Angels ***

BIBLICAL IMAGERY AND MYTH
Along with the devil, demons, and their mythical cousins (i.e. the serpent, evil spirits), angels have a long history in mythology and culture. And, like other Biblical concepts adopted from mythology, angels fit prominently in religious cultures — especially Christianity — but angels are not what people imagine them to be.

STUDY TIP: See this link for a comparison of angels and demons.

People who like to believe that angels exist as they are imagined in art, movies, books and poetry, will be very disappointed to learn that these images are not what God has in mind when he uses this term in the Bible. For God, an angel is nothing more, or less, than a messenger. An angel is just another word to describe true prophets, messiahs, high priests, witnesses and warriors. Jesus, in fact, was an angel because he spoke God’s message to people who could not hear God’s voice.

We should understand that angels are not real because these mythical creatures were common in ancient religions before Bible times. Like many other physical features of religions (e.g. temples, altars, priests, offerings, etc.) that preceded Judaism and Christianity, God has borrowed the imagery of angels to communicate spiritual truths in physical terms that people could understand. Therefore, the world believes that angels are supernatural beings that live in heaven but come down to earth to protect people and do good things for them. In a sense, this is true for God’s idea of angels, but there are several important differences between God’s idea of angels and man’s idea:

Speaking for God is all that angels do. They do not have spiritual power and authority to affect time or space. They cannot do physical miracles. Not even God does physical miracles. God does only one kind of miracle and he does it through angels who speak for him. That is all that they have authority to do. Anything else that people imagine that angels have power to do is religion with no power.

Angels were common in ancient religions before Bible times, but as Christianity emerged as a major world religion, their popularity increased in both religious and cultural terms. Current cultural acceptance of these entities is documented in a 2008 Pew research report that says that two-thirds of Americans believe that angels and demons are active in the world today. Jews, it appears, readily accept the existence of angels but hold rigidly to their monotheistic beliefs by rejecting the existence of Satan, or the Devil, as an independent, spiritual entity. The way we see it, Jews got it right about Satan but are wrong about angels.

STUDY TIPS: See History of Religion and Zoroastrianism for more about the antecedents of Judaism and Christianity.

Also see Serpent, Devil, Satan, Adversary, Demons, Evil Spirits and Anti-Christs for more about mythical figures in ancient religion.

Also see this link for research by others on what some people believe about the reality of Satan and the Devils. These articles are written by Old/First Covenant religionists who interpret the Bible literally and must therefore be read with extreme discernment.

Since angels figure prominently in the Bible, it seems important to discuss what it really says about them and separate truth from myth. Since Judaism and Christianity have had such a strong influence on the secular, non-religious culture, it seems important to set the record straight, best we can, for everyone — both the religious and secular.

Because these entities are historical myths, they are not worthy of study by serious disciples. However, because so many religious people hold on to the belief that they are real and make religious decisions based on that belief, they must be studied so that those who are deceived might be edified and corrected in beliefs that have made their way into religious life through preaching, books, movies, art and music. They are ripe topics for money-making enterprises whereby religious leaders prey on ignorant followers. Moreover, wrong thinking about these mythical beings has a way of diverting ignorant people from the truth about God and themselves.

To make this point more finely, we will say that religious people in a wide spectrum of religions are being deceived by religious leaders who teach, publish and promote heresy about angels. They also engage in Commercial Religion by marketing the myths to ignorant religionists who wrongly think they are spiritual because they believe in angels. Maybe the producers of teaching and products believe what they say, or maybe not. It does not matter. What matters is that they peddle heresies for their benefit while exploiting ignorant followers who make decisions, both financial and religious, based on their teaching. People who doubt such a statement may be convinced by checking the following links:

This list, of course, is only a very small sample of thousands of resources, including movies, books and music, that employ the imagery of angels for commercial and religious purposes. In the religious realm, there are cults built around angel worship. It is hard to call these cults mainstream religion, but they are accessible for those who are inclined toward superstition and magic.

It is worth noting that people do not need to belong to a cult with a name that meets together regularly in order to be considered a member of a cult. Anyone who simply believes in angels, talks about them as if they were real, gives them credit for having power to do good things may be rightly considered a follower of the angel cult. If they go the additional step of purchasing products (e.g pictures, statues, books, movies, etc.) that represent angels as real beings, they affirm their status as angel cult followers.

Since God alone is good, to say or infer that angels or any other real or imagined entities are good is a statement that gives angels  status equal with God. People who give honor to imaginary entities (i.e. gods) that are not real, and represent them as being real when they are only imaginary, effectively serve these other gods by recognizing them and honoring them as entities that do do things that are comparable to the good things (e.g. protect, help, give messages, etc.) that God does. This is a form of idolatry.

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