and the truth shall set you free!
the truth
You shall know
Glen & Renette Vermeulen
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![Text Box: GOD CREATED ALL THE ANGELS:
Contrary to common misconception, the Lord Jesus Christ is God, and not an angel. According to Jn. 1:3 and Heb. 1:1-4, the Lord Jesus Christ Himself created all the angels. The prophet Ezekiel, in chapter 28:13b-14, also spoke of the “anointed cherub who covers,” whom God had “created.” John wrote in Rev. 5:11-12, ‘Then I looked, and I heard the voice of many angles around the throne… the number of them was ten thousand times ten thousand, and thousands of thousands…’
Someone asked how many angels God created, and whether God created each angel individually, or whether God simply ‘cloned’ one angel. Well, God did indeed create all the “multitudes” of angels individually, although the actual number of angels are never mentioned in the Bible. However, if one thinks how omnipotently He created the heavens and the earth, and everything in it, it is certainly no great feat for God to create ‘billions’ of male angels ‘simultaneously’ without resorting to ‘cloning,’ or any such sinful human technique. There is no darkness or sin in God; to think that He would pervert His own perfect creation by ‘cloning’ male angels, is simply unmentionable. However, as the human population numbers in the billions, we can assume that God created billions of angels to minister to us all.
WHO ARE THE HOLY ANGELS OF GOD REALLY?
The holy, or sinless spiritual beings, whom the God of the Bible calls “angels”, live in heaven with Him. The Eternal God had created all the angels in a time-designation described as ‘everlasting.’ The angles had been there long before God created the earth, as they all “shouted for joy” that day when He “laid the foundations of the earth,” (Job. 38:4-7.) Besides God, the Lord Christ Jesus Himself, angels are the most powerful beings in the universe; intelligent and free-willed entities of the highest rank, but they are not God, and thus cannot create anything. All the angels of God worship Him, and as His servants, they execute His power and authority on earth according to His will, (Heb. 1:6-7; 14.)
Just as God Himself, angels are also immortal. And they, too, are invisible, unless, for a specific reason, God commands them to show themselves to human beings, (Heb. 1:5-14; Acts 12:7-10.) Unlike Hollywood-films, which portray God’s holy angels as beings who desire to partake in physical lusts, they are exalted high above the sinful desires of humanity. Holy angels are the supernatural soldiers, messengers and sentries of the living God. They are as fast as lightning and as powerful as fire, (Heb. 1:7, 14.) In unseen, and for humankind mostly in unknown ways, they execute God’s will in every situation on earth - where and as He Alone commands. Oftentimes, in cataclysmic circumstances, they remain quiet bystanders when, for reasons unknown to us, God chooses to stay His hand from Divine intervention.
IS IT POSSIBLE TO FIT THE NOTION OF ‘CHERUBS’ INTO GOD’S DESCRIPTION OF ANGELS?
The sinless, all-powerful, angelic ‘strike force’ of Jesus Christ is neither cute, nor cuddly, nor bored. Jesus’ angelic soldiers are to be respected as immensely powerful, supernatural, male beings who function under the direct control of their all-powerful Commander. Supernatural, immortal guards who protect the way to the Tree of Life, (or Christ Jesus Himself,) with ‘flaming swords,’ (Gen. 3:24.) Mighty avenging warriors who can stand “between earth and the heavens with drawn swords in their hands,” (1 Chron. 21:16.) God’s all-powerful army numbers “more than those who are with them,” (the forces of darkness.) They are under the full command of their omnipotent Creator as they wait on the ‘mountains’ all around us, mounted on “horses and chariots of fire,” (2 Kings 6:16-17.) They are mighty wardens who stand one-on-one at the “four corners of the earth,” holding back the evil forces of devastation, (Rev. 7:1.) A gigantic angel even “set his right foot on the sea and his left foot on the land, and cried with a loud voice, as when a lion roars, that there shall be delay no longer, and that the mystery of God would be finished, as He declared to His servants the prophets,” (Rev. 10:1-3.) So, in the light of Scripture, little ‘baby’ angels, or cute little ‘cherubs,’ who shoot ‘little arrows’ at people, do not exist. The myth of ‘bored, naughty, playful little angels, drifting on fluffy white clouds,’ is a pagan concept, which does not relate to the powerful, holy angels of God.
ARE ANGELS IMPORTANT TO US PERSONALLY?
We can be certain that the angels of God are always near to guard, help, protect, strengthen and carry us. God also sends them to us with messages of warning and guidance, (Mt. 2:13.) They speak in some of our dreams, fend off danger or pull us out of harms way. They even open prison doors and bring us out of great calamities, (Acts 5:19,20.) Often, they rescue us from the clutches of death itself, (Mt. 26:53.)
After Jesus withstood the temptations of the devil in the wilderness, “the devil left Him, and angels came and ministered to Him;” thus, we may boldly accept that God sends His angels to minister protection, comfort and healing to us in times of trouble! Yet, we become so easily discouraged and fearful. If only God would open our spiritual eyes to focus on Him as the omnipotent God of all creation! The One Who “holds our times in His hand!” If only God would enlighten our carnal minds to understand His immeasurable might and incredible power in, and through His unseen spiritual world, how strong and spiritually unconquerable we would be in Him!
DO ALL OF US HAVE PERSONAL “GUARDIAN ANGELS?”
We should always focus on the Lord Jesus Christ as our Sole Provider and Protector and never focus on the angels of God as such. Yet, it is wonderful to know that angels are the ministering servants of God, and so, Scripture does indicate that God assigns a ‘personal’ angel to every ‘little child’ [and] sincere believer, “who always see the face of the Father Who is in heaven,” (Mt. 18:10.) Although Scripture does not state this emphatically, we can accept that these angels are ‘personal’ guarding angels of the highest rank. Such angels are the servants of God, whom He “sends forth to minister to those who will inherit salvation” - that is, the sincere believers of Jesus Christ, (Heb. 1:14.)
SHOULD WE CONSULT, COMMAND, WORSHIP AND REVERE ANGELS?
Scripture teaches that angels were created for GOD to minister primarily to GOD. As a result, all the holy angels are under the direct command of God and God Alone. When they minister to humankind, (and they do, ‘for He shall give His angels charge over you…’) they will only minister according to the directions of God, (Rev. 5:11.)
Angels will not and do not obey human beings directly, as Scripture forbids us to consult angels or to worship them. John declared in Rev. 22:8-9, “I fell down to worship before the feet of the angel who showed me these things. Then he said to me, ‘See that you 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.’”
To worship angels; to trust in angels rather than in God, and to pray to, speak to, or consult angels rather than God, is the sin of idolatry, (Ex. 20:1-5.) The holy angels live to worship and obey God Alone. The psalmist declared in Ps. 103:19-22, ‘The Lord has established His throne in heaven, and His Kingdom rules over all. Bless the Lord, you His angels… who do His Word, heeding the voice of His word.. you ministers of HIS, who do His pleasure.’
If you believe you have command over a ‘guarding angel,’ ‘familiar angel,’ or any other kind of angel, you were deceived by Satan, who can change himself into the image of an angel of light to make you believe that you are in contact with a holy angel, while you are actually under the deception and control of a dangerous demon, (2 Cor. 11:14.) The enemy of humankind’s soul, Lucifer or Satan, is a master of deception, and he will, and does use and abuse our lack of knowledge and disobedience to Scripture to get hold of our souls. Hence, God commanded us “NOT to believe every spirit, but to test the spirits, to see whether they are of God… By this you know the Spirit of God, (and the true nature of angels.) Every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is of God, [spirit, not a human, for humans can confess anything,] and every spirit that does not confess that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is not of God…” Whenever you meet a supernatural being who wants you to believe that he is a holy angel, please obey the Word of God and “test” the spirit immediately “to see whether he is really of God.” Remember that God’s holy angels never draw unnecessary attention to themselves. They live to glorify, worship, and obey the Lord Jesus Christ alone, (Heb. 1:6.)
DO ANGLES CRY, OR SHOW OTHER ‘HUMAN’ EMOTIONS?
I am aware of the fact that holy angels do have emotions such as holy joy, which has nothing to do with the hysterical, unholy, and ungodly laughter that manifests among Charismatic believers, (Lu. 15:10.) Angels also worship, make music in heaven, and sing songs of praise to God, (Rev. 5:8-11; 7:11-12.) Angels are also inquisitive about the holy oracles of God, (1Pt. 1:12.) However, when I researched the notion that holy angels do cry, I could not find a single Scripture to verify such a possibility. Instead, Rev. 21:4 clearly states that, in God’s heavenly kingdom, no one, (neither God Himself, nor holy angles, nor the human spirits of the deceased in heaven,) ever weep – or suffer, or die.
The truth of Scripture refutes teachings that equate human emotions, frailties, and especially sinful actions to God’s holy angels, turning them into emotional beings who cry, giggle or laugh uncontrollably, etc.
Moreover, humanity was created “a little lower” than the angles on God’s creation-scale, (Heb. 2:6.) Angels are inhabitants of God’s ‘higher or superior,’ spiritual world. It is most presumptuous to perceive God’s holy angels in human terms. God warned us not to be “proud and think above that which is written… [which] makes us differ from one another [in belief and Biblical doctrine,]” (1 Cor. 4:6-7.)
According to the truth of Scripture, it is clear that holy angels never obey humans directly. They remain obedient to the Lord Jesus Christ Alone, the Commander-in-Chief of heaven’s almighty angelic force; the Highest God of the entire spiritual world, of earth and all its inhabitants, and of His entire universe, (Heb. 2:10.) When we meet angels who show unholy or simply human emotions, and do unscriptural or unholy things, we can be certain that we have encountered unholy angels, or demons. I share the following as an example of this fact:
It happened during an exceptionally sorrowful time in my life. For a while, overcome by incredible shock and dismay, I simply gave up living. I surrendered everything to the Lord and asked Him to end my life. That bitter cup was the one affliction I thought I would never be able to bear. By the grace of God, I never stopped talking to Him during that seemingly endless and hopeless trial and He gave me the strength to keep on wrestling with Him, intent on not letting go until He had blessed me, (Gen. 32:24-30.)
Then, one day, while I was tearfully speaking to God, an angel suddenly stood beside me. I could not see him, but I ‘knew’ or ‘perceived in my spirit’ that he was standing next to me. He did not startle me. It seemed as if he had been there all the time, but solely for my benefit, chose to reveal his presence at that moment. His powerful presence was awesome, yet amazingly, I was not afraid. The angel knew I would not accept his presence and “believe every spirit” without “testing the spirits to see whether they are of God,” as commanded in 1 Jn. 4:-1-4. Before I could ask him to identify himself, he spoke ‘into my mind’ saying, “Jesus Christ has come in the flesh.” This is the Scriptural declaration, which only “spirits who are of God” can utter – while human beings are capable of stating anything, (verse 3.) Thus, when a spirit cannot speak through a human vessel, antichrist spirits, by themselves, do not confess, “Jesus Christ has come in the flesh.”
It did not enter my mind that the angel might have come to take me home as I had requested of God. Instead, I thanked God for sending the angel, expecting him to deliver a special message, or bring some other kind of encouragement, but he did not utter another word. He did he attempt to reach out to me, or comfort me. He was neither sympathetic nor apathetic. He was not aloof, yet not emotional either. He just stood there like an immovable anchor in a dark and stormy sea until the peace of God had flooded my soul.
I slowly realized that the angel had not come to show allegiance to me personally, but to reveal his continual guarding protection over me in obedience to God alone. Clearly, God did not command him to bring me another prophecy, remind me of Scripture, or to shelter me under his wings. The angel simply manifested his presence to emit the greatness of God, Who had always been, and Who will always be in complete control of everything we might experience in this life. Then, just as suddenly as he had come, he disappeared into ‘nowhere;’ yet I knew he did not leave me. He just stepped back into the unseen spiritual world, as he is perfectly capable of watching over me from there.
Like the Old Testament Jacob, who wrestled with God that night at the Jabbok, and limped after His angel finally left him at daybreak, in many ways, that affliction in my life also left me a changed person when light finally began to dawn over my distraught soul. The Spirit Filled Bible explains Jacob’s encounter with God at the Jabbok as follows, “Jacob’s limp symbolizes that character transformation costs God’s people in terms of ego death… Personal character transformation is an important element of Jacob’s encounter with the angel.”
Regardless of the tendency among traditional church denominations to deny the manifestation and even the existence of angels (and demons,) it remains a Scriptural, as well as a practical reality that spirits do appear, speak, and propel many of the thoughts and actions of humans.
DO ANGELS PROCREATE IN HEAVEN?
Disgustingly, someone actually wrote to us saying, “Angels have sex in heaven, as they were created with the necessary tools, according to Gen. 6! They do multiply themselves, as there are female angels as well as males. In Mark 12:25, Jesus spoke on the marriage covenant; He did not say that angels are male only and do not multiply themselves.”
No, the discussion in Mt. 12:25 centred on the question whether husband and wife will continue their marriage covenant in heaven. Jesus said no, because born again human spirits will be LIKE angels, who "NEITHER marry, [to have sexual relations and multiply,] NOR are given in marriage, [are united by marriage covenant,]" because neither angels nor departed human spirits procreate in heaven! Jesus did not say that born again believers will become angels in heaven. He said that they will become LIKE angels, therefore they will have no need of a marriage covenant! God commanded His material creation on earth to multiply after their own kinds. However, for HUMANS, our most holy God created the marriage covenant to multiply and raise families. HUMANS, who are still "LOWER" than the angels while living one earth, (Lu. 20:36,) need to marry, but there is no such need in heaven. Angels remain a different species from departed human spirits, as explained in Hebrews chapters 1 and 2. The holy angelic race is incomprehensibly higher and explicitly different from the human species! In heaven, however, they have one thing in common: they do not marry or have sex, as they have no need to multiply!
Lucifer fell from glory as he became the pervertor of everything that God had created so “very good” in Eden, but his perversion did not and cannot pollute the angels who chose to remain holy and loyal to God. To think therefore that holy angels have sex - and worse, immoral, out-of-wedlock sex in heaven, is simply another satanic perversion.
Scripture refers to all the angels as ‘the sons of God.’ Of course they are not literal sons; this merely explains their gender and their close affiliation with their Creator. Contrary to the false portrayal of angels by the media industry, God created only male angels. Daniel 9:21 refers to “the man Gabriel,” and of course, we know of the other archangel, Michael, who is the commander of God’s angelic armies. In the apocrypha or non-biblical books, angels called Raphael, Seth, Jeremiel, Uriel, and so on are also mentioned. However, Scripture does not even mention the probability of ‘female’ angels, nor does Scripture describe a single encounter with a ‘female’ angel, because female angels simply do not exist. So, “why did God create angels with the 'necessary tools,' as they are capable, at least, of having sex with humans, as described in Gen. 6?” Humans simply do not know, for the Bible does not give any reason as to the fact.
Bible believing, born again believers of Jesus Christ will rest in what God did reveal through the full context of His Word. They will never try to add to God's Word in order to make up their own facts about angels, or anything else they choose to believe.
WHAT ABOUT FEMALE ANGELS? (Zech. 5:9, THE SINGLE VERSE THAT REFERS TO TWO ‘WOMEN,’ CARRYING A BASKET:)
Someone wrote to us saying that the Bible does indeed refer to ‘female’ angels— in one verse in the whole of Biblical Scripture! Zechariah 5:9, “There were two women, coming with the wind in their wings… and they lifted up the basket, [with the woman named ‘Wickedness’ incarcerated inside,] and carried it away to the land of Shinar, [or Babylon— the name which describes the worldwide system of idolatry.]”
In the context of this chapter, it is clear that the angel showed the prophet a prophetic vision; and the angel actually told the prophet the meaning of that vision, or prophecy. The woman named 'Wickedness' in Zechariah chapter 5, is a metaphor of the Old Testament nation of Israel; just like 'Mystery,' the woman who rides ‘the scarlet beast,’ who represents the idolatrous, New Testament, church system, (Rev. 17-18.) Just as the two women, ‘Mystery’ and ‘Wickedness,’ the ‘two [metaphorical] women carrying the basket,’ envision the prophecy in Zech. 5:9. CONTEXTUALLY, (and surely, the CONTEXT of a passage conveys the true meaning of a verse,) and according to most scholars of the Bible, Zechariah chapter 5 describes the meaning of verse 9 as:
The idolatrous nation of Old Israel or 'Wickedness,' who was sentenced by God, and imprisoned in a basket by an angel of God, to be ‘carried away,’ or dispersed throughout the whole earth.
The two 'women' dispersing ‘Wickedness’ represents: a) the idolatrous corruption of the Babylonian system in the hearts of the Hebrew nation, and b) the swift onslaught of the Roman Empire on the Hebrew nation. These two ‘women,’ (Babylon and the Roman Empire,) carried the nation of Old Israel away from her land to merge with all the wicked cultures of the world. Moreover, 518 BC prophecy was fulfilled in 70 AD when the Roman Empire destroyed Jerusalem and the Jewish temple, and dispersed the Hebrew nation throughout all the earth! So, if one reads this verse in context, it becomes clear that God was not saying that these ‘two women,' (symbolizing Babylon and the Roman Empire,) are angels – or even demons. Once, all demons were holy angels, therefore demons can also fly 'with the wind in their wings,' but in this case, the ‘two women’ are merely metaphors that envisions the prophecy. The notion of female angels is a pagan doctrine. Neither the Hebrew Scriptures, nor the Apocrypha, (non-canonical books of early Christianity,) nor the Bible declare that God had created female angels.
DO HUMANS BECOME ANGELS WHEN THEY DIE; WATCHING OVER US FROM HEAVEN?
The Lord Jesus Christ Himself declared that angels are not dead people who lived ‘good’ lives on earth; innocent little children who died, dead Roman Catholic ‘saints,’ ‘sweet,’ ‘good,’ or ‘holy’ people, who are still living on earth, or even the born again human spirits of deceased believers, who are in heaven with Jesus, (Lu. 20:34-36; Mt. 25:41.) God created the angels as a totally different species from humankind. While humans are living on earth in their physical bodies, ALL of them remain “lower than the angels” on God’s creation-scale, (Heb. 1:7,14; 2:6-7.) Neither living humans nor the human spirits of departed people can become angels; and angels can never become human spirits. However, when the born again believers of the Lord Jesus Christ die, their departed human spirits become “like angels” in heaven. This means that in heaven, the departed human spirits of sincerely born again believers become ‘equal to angels;’ being on the same spiritual level as the angels before the throne of our Lord Jesus Christ, (Mt. 22:30; Lu. 20:36.)
Although the human spirits of the born again departed and the angels are on the same level before the throne of God in heaven, humans spirits will remain disembodied until the resurrection of the dead in Christ. At that moment “Jesus will descend from heaven with a loud cry… and with the... trumpet of God. And those who have departed this life in Christ will be [physically] raised imperishable. Then, in the twinkling of an eye, the physically alive in Christ shall be transformed, [into physical/spiritual beings, resembling Christ’s glorified, resurrected body, Jn. 20:26-27], and they shall be caught up with the resurrected saints to meet the Lord in the air,” 1 Cor. 15:51-53; Ths. 4:17.
Disobedient people who died without ever accepting and following the Lord Jesus Christ as their personal Lord and Savoir, will remain disembodied human spirits until the “second resurrection,” (the resurrection of those who will not live with God in heaven,) to face the Great White-throne judgment of God, (Jn. 1:12-13; Mt. 25:41; Lu. 16:24; Rev. 20:11-15.) According to the Word of God, however, even born again, departed human spirits know nothing about the affairs of those who are still living on earth; “nevermore will [those who have died physically] have a share in anything done under the sun!” (Isa. 8:19, Eccl. 9:5-10.) For this reason, God views human attempts to communicate with, and consult the dead as the sin of idolatry. Living human beings should consult God in all their needs. If we try to consult or contact the dead, we will only communicate with deceiving spirits or demons, who are masquerading as the spirits of the departed, (Deut. 18:10-12; 1 Cor. 10:14, 21.) The departed have lived their lives here on earth. For them, life on earth as we know it, is over for all eternity. All of humanity is “destined to die once,” thereafter, to face “the judgment” of the Almighty Creator God, (Heb. 9:27.)](image1035.gif)
