y sister knew a missionary who was working in Burma. The Burmese government of the time had forbidden missionary activity, so the missionary had to sneak across the border and evangelize the mountain tribes illegally. One night, the tribal elders threw him in an abandoned well and left him for dead. After days of thirst and hunger, a white man dressed as a jungle explorer called his name from the top of the well and reached down to pull him out. Without a word, he led the missionary back to the trail that led home, then vanished around a bend in the trail ahead. Only later did the missionary realize there could not possibly have been any other white people in that part of the jungle, and certainly none who spoke English. He was convinced that an angel had delivered him.

ope Price is the wife of an Anglican minister. After her own angelic encounter, she felt compelled to put together a collection of angel experiences; so she advertised in the press and was overwhelmed with letters from individuals who claimed they had some sort of encounter with angels. She received over fifteen hundred letters, and reckoned that at least five hundred were authentic accounts of angelic experiences.

The stories were of three different sorts. There were those who experienced an angelic presence, those who actually saw something supernatural, and those, like my sister’s missionary friend, who experienced what looked like an ordinary person, but who must have had some supernatural explanation.

Kerry Cole explains how she took her infant son out shopping for the first time. She accidentally let go of the baby carriage and looked up to see it six inches from the curb where the road surged with three lanes of heavy traffic. Suddenly a tall man in a brown coat stepped in front of the baby carriage. “Oh praise the Lord!” Kerry cried. The man smiled and said, “Yes indeed.” As she ran up her first instinct was to check the baby. When she looked up to thank the old gentleman he was gone. Only later did she realize that he had appeared almost out of nowhere, and vanished into thin air. Doubters will say it was simply a man out of the crowd of shoppers, but Jane was convinced that a guardian angel stepped in at her hour of need.

Like most of those who see an ordinary person, who is somehow extraordinary, Jane’s story is easily explained away. Carl Richards’ story is of the second sort. He was playing the drums at a children’s praise service when he saw a ring of angels about seven feet tall standing around the singing children. He said they wore “simple wrap-around robes tied at the waist. Their hair was shoulder-length, light-colored, and wavy. In their hands, they each held a long-two-edged sword that they leaned upon. Behind their backs there were two huge folded wings . . . They were whispering to each other, and occasionally smiling and pointing out certain children.”

The final sort of Christian angelic encounter happened in my own family. My grandfather stepped in front of a runaway truck to shield his two young sons. The truck crushed him. Later in the hospital, my grandmother stood at his deathbed. He was a godly Christian man, and the atmosphere was peaceful though tragic. Suddenly he opened his eyes and looked up. He smiled and said, “Don’t you see them? They’re so beautiful.” Grandmother didn’t see anything, but she felt a wonderful presence in the room. In a moment he passed away, and although my grandmother didn’t see angels, she was always convinced that her husband saw them and that she had felt their presence.

Hope Price is not the only author to capitalize on angelic encounters. There is a whole crop of books that catalogue such experiences. But it’s not only Christians who collect angel stories. There are plenty of angel books on the New Age shelves as well. Angels seem to be in fashion throughout our culture. Hollywood has recently produced a handful of films with angels as key characters, and several recent television shows feature guardian angels. If you really want to get into angels you can buy angel statues, angel crystals, go on angel seminars, and learn how to work with your angels for healing and self-improvement. Some New Age teachers claim to be clairvoyants and say they are receiving messages directly from the angels. What’s going on? Should Christians rejoice that so many people are being so positive about angels, or are the New Age angels superstitious imaginings? Could they actually be dangerous? Are Christian angel experiences valid, or are Christians also being deceived? Angels make plenty of appearances in the Bible, so angels can’t automatically be judged impossible or evil. Are modern angels really demons disguised as beings of light? Can Christians work with angels? Where should we stand on the angel topic?

The Archangel of New Jersey

One of the best ways to sort out what is going on is to listen closely to what the different angel teachers are saying. Denise Cooney is a spiritual teacher, counselor, and healer based in New Jersey. She also claims to be a channel for the Archangel Michael. For over ten years she has claimed to be receiving messages directly from the Master of the Heavenly Host — Michael himself. The messages are often full of homely wisdom. They express good spiritual advice and give insights into human nature. They purport to be from a supernatural being of light and wisdom, but underlying the good messages is a belief system that doesn’t fit with Christianity at all.

Denise Cooney’s messages from “Michael” often sound far more like the Prince of Darkness than the Prince of Light. Here’s an example from a recent message: “Michael” says to Denise, “What I’m going to ask you to do this week, if you can, if you need to do it with symbols or with statues, is to take the time to really see that you are a God-Goddess on this Earth. You are the High Priestess, You are the High Priest. You have been working towards this for lifetimes. Claim your power, claim your rightful place. . . .” The Scriptures say Satan’s original sin was that he wanted to be like God. “Michael’s” words to Denise Cooney sound as if he is tempting her with the same desire. That’s exactly what he tempted Jesus to do in the wilderness. Satan tried to get the Lord to put himself in God’s place (Matt. 4).

It’s also important to see how the angel channelers treat Jesus. Usually he is categorized merely as a good human teacher. As with many New Age messages, Jesus isn’t mentioned by name in Cooney’s messages. Instead ‘the Christ’ is spoken of. ‘The Christ’, according to Cooney’s spirit master, is the same spirit which inspires all enlightened spiritual masters. So “Michael” says to Denise Cooney, “You have the lighted consciousness of the Christ, of the Buddha, of the Krishna, of the Om, of the I Am, of the One who has no name; you are individuals in Truth, you are individuals in light.”

Denise Cooney and other “angel channelers” might think they are communicating with beings of light, but they should be careful. The Scriptures say Satan disguises himself as an angel of light. Indeed, he is named as the “bright and morning star” (Isa. 14:12) The angel channelers are probably in touch with some sort of spiritual beings, but what and who are they, and where do they come from? Some of the New Age writers have their own ideas about these “shining ones”, and their ideas make for disturbing reading.

The Shining Ones

Andrew Collins is a specialist in angel theories. He is also an occultist who calls himself “an urban shaman.” Collins has come up with an amazing theory about the origins of angels. In his book, From the Ashes of Angels, he recognizes that many primitive cultures have shamans who wear wings in their ceremonies. Most pagan cultures also have winged gods or monsters. Collins thinks the winged shamans are mimicking winged gods, and that the winged gods are cultural memories of powerful flying beings who came to earth to civilize primitive humanoids long ago. Collins has read the Book of Enoch — an ancient Jewish occult text — and reports Enoch’s visions of the “shining ones” —mysterious beings with an advanced technology who bewitch Enoch and grant him knowledge. Collins thinks these powerful beings are also the “shining ones” or “sons of god” which are recorded in the book of Genesis. There it says the sons of god came down and had union with the daughters of man, and a giant race was produced (Genesis 6:2). Collins thinks these super-beings dressed as winged shamans and produced the living legend of supernatural, winged beings. They are the ones who produced the pyramids of Egypt and all the great Middle Eastern civilizations. He thinks they may also have traveled to Central and South America to establish the ancient civilizations there.

Collins traces various legends from primitive societies in which strange beings arrive and introduce a new technology and religion. He thinks these legends are a memory of superhuman beings who came to teach humans their special technology. The Book of Enoch has long been a favorite of esoteric teachers. It recounts how the shining ones came and taught humans all the black arts of abortion, making arms, wearing make-up, and serving the demonic spirits. Collins’ angel beings sound very like the fallen angels in the Book of Genesis who came to earth and corrupted humanity. If these are his angels, then like the angels of the channelers, they are fallen beings — part of the demonic cohort, and not of the heavenly hosts.

Collins says his angels are historic, physical beings, but he doesn’t say where they come from in the first place. He doesn’t need to. Other writers have lots of ideas about where these angel beings originate. Rose and Rand Flem-Ath say they came from Atlantis. They think Atlantis can be found under the Antarctic ice cap. Other writers such as Zechariah Sitchin and Erik Von Daniken think these great beings who kick-started human civilization came from outer space. Still more New-Agers think these super-sophisticated beings are still in touch with the human race today.

Aliens and Angels

The increasing number of angelic encounters has coincided with a growing interest in UFOs and alien abductions. While angel visitations seem encouraging, or at least harmless, alien encounters always have a sinister edge to them. Despite their outward differences, many commentators put the two kinds of encounters in the same category. They think angels and aliens are two different ways of speaking about the same spiritual phenomenon.

There are enough angelic and alien experiences to force us to admit that something is going on. It may not be easy to say exactly what, but people are meeting with some sort of supernatural entity. Traditional philosophy has always taught that good and evil angels are both capable of taking on various forms. So Proclus in Plato’s Republic says, “The gods exhibit many forms of themselves, and appear in a variety of shapes and sometimes indeed an unfigured light of themselves is held forth to view. Sometimes this light is held forth to view, sometimes this light is figured according to a human form and sometimes it proceeds into a different shape.”

If this is so, angels may very well appear as a man dressed in white like a jungle explorer. They may also take the shadowy form of grey humanoid aliens, or monsters, which cause people to have dreams of abduction and torture. In fact, the alien-angel channelers themselves support the idea that aliens are evil angels, or demons. The Jews always considered the ancient pagan gods and goddesses to be demonic entities, and in Whitley Streiber’s allegedly true story of an alien abduction entitled Communion, Streiber associates the alien female who abducted him with the Babylonian goddess Ishtar. Another “abductee” — the Swiss writer Billy Meier — claims he met entities called Semjase and Ptaah. Shemyazeh is the name of one of the primary fallen angels in the Book of Enoch, and Ptah is the name of an ancient Egyptian god. Similarly, UFO writer Philip K. Dick recounts his abduction and claims he met the Greek goddess Aphrodite.

Another phenomenon that combines channeling with alien encounters are the so-called “space-age channelers” who claim to travel out of their bodies to other planets or receive messages from alien beings. Many “channels” download messages from “Ashtar” or the Ashtar Command. Again the name is unmistakably similar to the ancient names of the creating/destroying deity: Ishtar, Athatar, Astaroth, and Astarte. The “Ashtar Command” gives bland homilies about self-improvement, warns of imminent global catastrophe if mankind doesn’t pull up its corporate socks, and promises the devotee that a spacecraft is waiting to whisk him away if things get bad.

So when we put together the heretical messages of the “angel channelers,” Collins’ identification of angels with the fallen angels of Genesis, and the pagan-deity names that aliens claim, it’s not too difficult to conclude that many of the angel/alien encounters are actually encounters with demons. The fact that channelers open up their minds and souls to these beings is frightening indeed. That they are spreading this practice and distributing their misleading messages under the guise of light-filled angelic guidance is a terrifying sign of our times.

Angels of Light

In the face of this occult activity, Christians might be inclined to steer clear of angels altogether. But that would be throwing the angel out with the exorcism. From the beginning, angels have been a part of our revealed religion. It is an article of the Catholic faith that angels are real. The Catechism of the Catholic Church says, “The existence of the spiritual, non-corporeal beings that Sacred Scripture usually calls ‘angels’ is a truth of faith. The witness of Scripture is as clear as the unanimity of Tradition” (CCC para. 328). Other Christians agree. Hope Price’s husband is an Anglican minister. He did a survey among Christian denominations and discovered that all Christian denominations agree with the Catholic Church on the basics about angels.

They all agreed that angels are created by God. They dwell in His presence. They are sent as His messengers to earth. They are of superior intelligence. They have no bodies, but can take visible form. They also agree that while there are good angels, there also exists a band of fallen angels who have similar powers, but have twisted their energies against the good.

The best way of recognizing good angels is to understand their role in the economy of redemption. To do this, we need to know and understand not only that angels are real, but also how they have interacted with the human race down through history. We must look at the Scripture record. Once we see how the angels have acted down through salvation history we can better understand our proper interaction with them today.

Angels appear in the Bible story from the first pages of Genesis right through to the final pages of the Book of Revelation. They guard the Garden of Eden so Adam and Eve may not return to eat of the tree of life. Subsequently, man lives in his fallen state forever. The angels appear to Abraham as three travelers at the oaks of Mamre, and Jacob has a wonderful vision of angels ascending and descending a great staircase into heaven. It is Jacob’s dream that gives us the best picture explanation of the role of angels.

We learn from Jacob’s dream that angels are there as messengers of heaven. They communicate between heaven and earth at God’s command for the benefit of human beings. Continuously through Scripture the angels protect, lead and guide God’s people. An angel talks to the prophet Balaam telling him not to curse the Israelites. The angel of death destroys the Egyptians’ first-born sons while protecting the Hebrews. The angels close the mouths of the lions to protect Daniel. An angel walks in the midst of the fire with the three Hebrew boys who are being persecuted. Angels minister to Elijah when he is thrust into the wilderness, and angels are there surrounding the city where Elisha is dwelling with his servant.
In the New Testament, the angels are present to give God’s message of the incarnation, first to the Blessed Virgin Mary, then to St. Zachariah, then to St. Joseph, finally to the shepherd and the wise men. During Jesus’ life, they were at His conception, His birth, and His trial in the wilderness. They strengthened Him in the Garden of Gethsemane and were present to proclaim His resurrection. An angel delivers St. Peter from prison and angels surround the throne of God in St. John’s heavenly vision in the Book of Revelation.

The Scripture message about angels is that they are servants of God sent to help us, His people. That angels exist and are there to assist us is part of the Christian tradition. Because they are misunderstood by the New Age movement doesn’t mean we must forsake and ignore them. Abuses should never undo right uses. The New Agers might be in contact with demons, but that shouldn’t stop our proper cooperation and attention to the angels God has assigned to help, guard and guide us.

Praise, Proclamation and Protection

The word angel comes from the Greek word angelos which means “messenger.” All through the Scriptural account, the angels were God’s messengers to mankind. At each crucial point in salvation history angels appeared to guide and direct individuals with a message from God. In each situation, the angels not only were God’s messengers, but they were also channels of peace and joy. In every instance, they serve God and point back to his glory. They do so because they are creatures of praise. This double role of messenger and worshipper points to our proper relationship with the angels.

Third, the angels are sent by God as our spiritual guardians and protectors. The Archangel Michael is the protector of Israel (Dan. 10:13; Rev.12:7) and Jesus Himself affirmed that we all have our guardian angels (Matt. 18:10). The angels are there to encourage us in our Christian life. The writer to the Hebrews calls them “ministering spirits sent forth for the sake of those who will obtain salvation” (Heb. 1:14).

These three roles of the angels — messengers, worshippers and guardian-guides — reveal the proper ways for us to interact with the angels. First, we work with the angels when we praise. The angels’ whole existence is to praise and worship God and do His bidding. So we work with the angels when we enter into worship. In worship, we sing with the angels in heaven: “Holy, holy, holy, Lord God of hosts.” With the angels of the Nativity, we sing “Glory to God in the highest.” Whenever we take a moment to praise God in heartfelt worship, we are working with the angels. We are coming alongside them, and they are joining with us in the worship of the ages — the cosmic liturgy of the Lamb. Praise and worship lifts the heart and mind and transforms the soul. As we worship, the whole world is restored to glory because in worship our souls and the whole created order of heaven and earth are set in their proper relationship with the Creator.

Second, we work with the angels whenever we proclaim the message of God’s love. The angels’ message always points to Christ. Throughout the Scriptures, the message of the angels was interwoven with the coming of Christ — either in the Old Testament salvation history or in the New Testament gospel account. This two fold task is expressed in the phrase “Glory to God in the highest and peace to His people on earth.” In the first phrase, we praise. In the second, we proclaim peace to His people on earth. According to St. Paul, we have been given the ministry of reconciliation (2 Cor. 5:18). In other words, like the angels in Jacob’s vision, we are to be climbing the ladder between earth and heaven. We are to be interceding in prayer for those on earth and proclaiming the messages of heaven to a people who walk in darkness. Proclaiming the gospel with our words and in our lives is the second way we work with the angels. The archangel Gabriel is God’s chief angel messenger, and we do well to ask his help and blessing whenever we prepare to communicate the gospel in any way.

The third way we work with the angels is to ask for their protection, guidance and help. This is where Christian practice sounds a bit similar to New Age practice. But there are some important differences. We do not ask the angels to help us “affirm the God that is within us,” as New Age religion does. New Age religion is self-centered. Christianity always looks out to the God who is above and the Lord Jesus whose Spirit comes to dwell within us. The Spirit dwells within our hearts, but the angels don’t. They simply walk with us in the journey. New Agers expect to be infested with their demons. We look forward to walking beside our angels. Our angels guide and guard us by walking beside and before us. In this respect it is especially good to invoke St. Michael and our guardian angel. When we are in a time of danger or temptation we can ask their help, as we would ask the help of an experienced guide while climbing a mountain. They are there to lend us a hand, point out the way and help keep us from falling.

Praise and proclamation and protection may not seem quite as exciting as visitations from aliens or messages direct from angels, but our faith is incarnational. It is real and practical and has to do with everyday things. The demons hate the fact that we have bodies. Some ancient writers say the demons are jealous of our bodies — that’s why they try to make us forget our bodies. They try to lure us into their spiritual realm through heresy and magic. If they can’t do that, then they will try to take over our bodies by infestation and possession. The demons despise us. But God’s angels respect and admire our physical bodies. They love our physical-ness, because their Lord took on human flesh and was born of a woman. Angels know and love this trait about us humans. They do not wish us to go above the physical and ordinary things of life. They know that it is in flesh and blood and sweat and tears that we find God. As the English poet Henry Vaughn has written, “Here in dust and dirt, Oh here! The lilies of His love appear.” And it is in this dust and dirt of ordinary prayer, praise and pleas for protection that we cooperate most powerfully with the angels in heaven. 

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