One of the religious offerings on BBC recently featured a programme about people who claimed to have had contact with angels. According to a psychologist interviewed on the programme, UFO abductions and near death experiences are out in paranormal circles and angels are in. Some of the experiences recounted on the programme appeared quite genuine, with people speaking of supernatural deliverance from situations of great danger. On the other hand many were definitely suspect spiritually and as usual with the BBC there was no attempt to discern between the genuine and the counterfeit.

One woman interviewed conducted angel parties, going into peoples homes and inviting angels into the midst. She said, Angels are around us in huge numbers. They are telling us that we must change and love one another as all the masters - Buddha, Krishna, Christ - taught, or destroy one another. A lady who had taken part in her party said she had had a visitation from an angel, who - surprise, surprise - was called Gabriel and came with brilliant light. She had an impression of a velvet cushion with a trumpet and a pen. Her explanation of this was, It is time to blow my own trumpet.

Another lady called Vicky had a house and garden which had become a bit of a centre where people experience angels. Angels flow by me, through me, at me. She conducts angel readings with people to find out where they are at spiritually. She said, I began to look into other cultures and they spoke volumes to me in a way that Christianity has never done. I dont feel very comfortable in churches. Theyre repressive, they tell me what I can and cant believe. Im not having that.

What can we know about angels?

The word angel is taken from the Greek word angelos, which is a direct translation of the word used in the Old Testament malach meaning messenger. The Bible teaches that angels exist and that they are ministering spirits sent forth to minister for those who will inherit salvation. (Hebrews 1.14). It follows therefore that Gods angels will be working on behalf of Gods message of salvation.

The Bible also teaches that there are fallen angels (demons) who joined in Satans rebellion against God (Job 4.18, Matthew 25.41, 2 Peter 2.4, Jude 6, Revelation 12). In 2 Corinthians 11.14 Paul tells us that Satan is able to transform himself into an angel of light for the purpose of deceiving gullible human beings.

With this simple piece of information to hand it is easy to discern that the examples above from the BBC programme are visitations of fallen angels, not angels of God. The message of the Bible is that Jesus is the Messiah, the one mediator between God and human beings. So the lady who is putting Jesus along with Buddha and Krishna is bringing a message, which contradicts the message of the Gospel, and is therefore coming from a demonic source. The interpretation of her vision, It is time to blow my own trumpet, in other words to exalt oneself, is the opposite of the message of the Gospel which is to deny oneself and exalt Jesus.

Vickys angels tell her to reject the Christian message because it is repressive, telling her what she can and cant believe. It is true that God does tell us in the Bible not to believe and practice certain things - with good reason! They are untrue and they are harmful. Good parents tell their children not to put their hands in the fire, not to be repressive, but to protect them from harm. For example the Bible says,

There shall not be found among you anyone who makes his son or his daughter pass through the fire, or one who practices witchcraft, or a soothsayer, or one who interprets omens, or a sorcerer, or one who conjures spells, or a medium, or a spiritist, or one who calls up the dead. (Deuteronomy 18.10-11).

The reason these things are forbidden in the Bible is that there are real powers of evil, which can be contacted through such practices. The practices encouraged in the Angels programme are an open door to familiar spirits (demons) who pretend to be angels from God in order to come in and take over peoples lives. The last days before the second coming of the Messiah Jesus will see a huge increase in spiritual deception of this kind as false prophets and false Messiahs go out into the world. Their teachings are accompanied by lying signs and wonders (Matthew 24.24, 2 Thessalonians 2.9-12) which bring a strong delusion on those who receive them.

On the other hand Gods angels are working in the unseen world on our behalf all the time. There is joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents (Luke 15.10). The idea that we have a guardian angel is not directly taught in the Bible, but Jesus did say, 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 (Matthew 18.10).

The angels of God are his messengers working on behalf of those who are seeking salvation or have found it and protecting us from evil, but we are not to look for them or seek to make contact with them. In every description in the Bible of an encounter with an angel, it is the angel who makes contact with the person, not the person who seeks the angel. Those taking part in the angel parties described above will generally make contact with a supernatural being - but it will be a fallen angel or demon, not an angel of God. We should seek God alone, through the mediation of the Messiah Jesus who has died and risen from the dead to remove the barrier of sin, which separates us from Him.

We are also not to worship angels, as they are created beings. John wrote in Revelation 22.8-9, Now I John saw and heard these things. And when I heard and saw I fell down to worship before the feet of the angel who showed me these things. Then he said to me, See that thou do not do that. For I am your fellow servant, and of your brethren the prophets, and of those who keep the words of this book. Worship God.

Interestingly there are examples in the Old Testament, which seem to contradict this. At times the being described as the Angel of the Lord is given divine status of being able to redeem and pardon from sin. To see Him is to see God and He is given worship (Genesis 18, Genesis 32.24-30, Genesis 48.16, Exodus 14.19, Exodus 23.20-23, Joshua 5.13-15, Judges 13). Rabbinic literature has puzzled over the identity of this being, giving him the title Metatron who is also described as the Middle Pillar, the Mediator between Heaven and Earth and the Keeper of Israel.

There are times where the Angel of the Lord is clearly more than a created being and is given divine status in his manifestations to people in the Old Testament. This is a problem to the rigid monotheism of Rabbinic Judaism (i.e. how can God appear in a visible form?). For believers in Jesus as the Messiah there is no problem at all. Where the Angel of the Lord appears as a divine being, it is Jesus appearing in his pre-incarnate form as the Redeemer of Israel. For further information on this subject send for the book The Great Mystery - how can three be one? by Rabbi Zvi ha Nassi or the tape on the Metatron by Yakov Prasch or the tape The Trinity in the Old Testament by Tony Pearce.