by: Cyndi Hall  (Tnmoom@theshadowlands.net)


 

 




A History of Angels

The word angel comes from the Greek word “angelos”, which means messenger.The Holy Bible says that God appointed many angels to those who love God and call to Him. Psalms 91:11-For He will command His angels concerning you. To guard you in all your ways










Types of Angels

The Holy Bible refers to different types of angels, with varying duties. Some angels are guides, some protectors,and others are messengers of the Lord.

The appearance and purposes of angels vary throughout history and the world. Artists have given us their visions of angels as winged creatures, usually beautiful figures that seen as glowing, shining, or floating in human form.
 
Angels are also recorded in the Koran. “You shall see the angels circling around the throne, giving glory to their Lord.

Some people entrust their lives to guardian angels, or believe when they die they will be led to Heaven by the angel of death. Many stories show a stranger next to the deathbed at the time a person passes.
 
Many people, soldiers included, claim to have seen “Warrior angels leading them into battle. They feel comforted and stronger knowing they have celestial help.
 
Angels have made us curious, fired our imagination and filled us with hope and a feeling of security, a knowing that in time of need they will be there to help us. We hear about people who say they have seen an angel, or have seen a glowing light. People contend that angels have appeared human form out of nowhere just at the right time to save the day and then disappear without a trace.
 
Angels are believed to watch over us, some believe they are with us from birth to death. They say we are assigned an angel to guide and protect us throughout our lives.
 
Dionysius, a writer, gave us a hierarchical order of angels. The first group is the Seraphim, Cherubim, and Thrones
.
 
The word Seraphim (singular is Seraph) is taken from the fiery imagery often associated with the Presence of God.

See Isaiah 6:2 - Cherubim are represented as guardians with many wings.  Thrones have been depicted as wearing stoles and kneeling before God.

See Genesis 3:24, Genesis 25:22, Ezekiel 1:4-14- 1:26-28, Hebrews 9:5, 1 Samuel 4:4, Psalms 80:1, Revelations 4:6
 
Archangels are the third group of angels that includes the principalities, protectors of nations, and the angles who protect humans.

The word Archangel is found in 1 Thessalonians 4:16-For the Lord Himself will come down from Heaven, with a loud command, with the voice of the archangel and the trumpet call of God and the dead in Christ will rise first.


 


 


 


Names of Specific Angels

 
Raphael is the healing angel. Many nurses and physicians claim angels have guided them.  “And now the Lord has sent me to heal thee, for I am the angel Raphael one of the 7 who stand before the Lord. -Book of Tobias 

Gabriel is the angel of the enunciation, in Daniel 8:15-26 and 9:21-27. Gabriel also appears in Luke 1:19(Zechariah was in the sanctuary when an angel of the Lord appeared, standing to the right of the incense altar.) verse 19: The angel answered, “I am Gabriel. I stand in the presence of God and I have been sent to speak to you and to tell you this good news. As a messenger angel, principalities come in the form of communicating to people about their personal problems or life decisions. Some believe that Gabriel submits prayers to heaven or bring information to us.

 
Uriel is said to be the angel of death, who was also thought to be the angel of transformation. He is believed to be standing by people on the verge of death.


Michael the archangel appears as a warrior angel in 1 Thessalonians 4:16 and Jude 9. He is the most well known angel. Michael is said to be the defender angel who does battle Daniel 10:13, 21, and 12:1. References are also found in Romans 8:38, Ephesians 1:21, and Colossians 1:16.  The guardian angels are all aspects and forms of Michael.There are personal guardian angels, as well as those that help armies and protect nations. They say that earth has a specific angel. (Michael?)




 







Angels in the Recent Past and Present

An amazing number of books with the word angel in the title were published between 1890 and 1925, and in the past few years, we have seen a resurgence of this phenomenon.  Today their images appear on postcards, birth announcements, and Christmas greetings, decorations, ornaments, and other dolls. 
Why now? Why at this time in our history?  It's harder these days when traditional religious forms don't hold people in the way they did at one time.  Some say our need to believe in angels is our recognition of the need to look at the world in a more spiritual way.  The world is experiencing an increasing appreciation of the spiritual, an increasing capacity for people to be with spirit, to co-create. There is so much work that needs to be done, that we really need spiritual help in getting it done.  Some would say it's a part of the evolution of our collective soul, leaving us to look inside ourselves and to seek God.  We seem to be at the threshold of a new spiritual awakening.  More and more Christians are being born into the church of God. Other religions all over the world are seeing more people come into their various folds. The feeling and the belief that angels are real is more prevalent today than ever before. We are more accepting to the appearance of angels and we are aware of the spiritual life. There is no reason to believe it isn't the next step in the consciousness of human beings to regularly be in tune with the gifts of God. The knowing that He is there with all His heavenly hosts to guide us, help us, heal us, and protect us when we need them or when we ask for them is blessed reassurance.



 

 








Three Inspiring and True Angelic Stories
 
 Saved By An Angel:

I have a friend who was hiking in the Sierra Nevada Mountains with his two daughters. One was about three years old. The other daughter was just a baby, under one year of age, and was in a back-pack baby carrier.

They were many miles away from the nearest person and were walking around a reservoir filled with water. The three year old said she wanted to go play in the water. The Daddy explained to her that the sides of the reservoir were very steep and she couldn't wade in because those sides were too steep. The water also got deep very quickly and he explained that she didn’t know how to swim.

The little girl understood and they walked on around the reservoirs edge. In less than a minute, the girl tripped and rolled down the steep bank 5 to 10 feet and into the water. She struggled, and with each panicked move swept farther out in the water. My friend (Daddy) raced down. He stood in the water and reached as far as he could, but the little girl was just inches out of his reach. She was quickly moving away from shore.

My friend (Daddy) stepped farther into the water this time, and with water up to his waist, his feet slipped in the steep reservoir bottom. His little girl slipped just inches out of his reach. He took another step into the water, the steep decline this time caused the water to be up to his shoulders. Just as he grasped her hand, his feet slipped, however, his little girl clung to him. His head and his one year olds head went under the water. He kicked with all his might, but couldn't get his head above the water.

He felt they all three would drown and he desperately prayed. “God, help me!" He raised his right hand in a desperate effort toward the shore and felt a strong hand grasp his. My friend (Daddy) was yanked up out of the water with his two daughters. They were taken up the 10 feet to the flat land above the reservoir.

They were all saved! My friend (Daddy) was laying there holding his daughters and quickly turned over to see who had miraculously saved him. No one was there. The shore was empty. They were the only people within miles. He knew then, that they had been saved by an Angel. God had heard his prayer!


 The Accident That Never Was

It was Christmas Eve and I was driving to a friend's house during the hectic, Los Angeles rush-hour. The night was pitch black and raining so hard that visibility was nil. The three lanes of traffic on congested La Cienega Blvd were stopped for a red light and my tiny white sports car was the last in a very long line of vehicles. I was in the far left lane, wedged next to a 2 foot high cement island, casually looking through my rear view mirror at the reflection of the street lights and holiday decorations on the dark, shiny wet street behind me. All of a sudden I saw the three cars. There was one in each lane speeding towards the stopped traffic, exceeding the speed where they could safely stop. The cars suddenly slammed on their brakes and started sliding and swerving all over the road as they attempted to stop.

I knew for certain that my car would be hit and having no way to escape it, murmured, "Please, God, help me", as I braced myself for the impact. I kept looking through the mirror and watched the cars approach. Unexpectedly, I felt a very gentle, soft tap at the back of my car followed by a slight lifting sensation but didn’t see a car hit me. I then heard the crash of the cars slamming into each other. I waited a few moments for the dust to settle and then got out of my car to see what had happened and give assistance if anyone needed help.

As I exited, I was surprised to find my car sitting on the cement island. I had not felt enough of an impact to have moved that far, plus the car was exactly parallel to its original position. It was as if it had been lifted up and moved three or four feet to the left then gently set down. It seemed slightly strange but at the time I really didn't give it much thought.

Fortunately, no one was physically hurt. However, there was considerable damage to several of the stopped cars and the three cars that had hit them. What amazed me was that everyone wanted to know how I was and how much damage my car had suffered. I said I was fine and that nothing had happened to me or my car, because I wasn’t hit. With that statement, fifteen people stared at me with disbelief, asking "What do you mean nothing happened to you? We saw your car fly through the air! You got hit harder than any one else." We all walked to my car and observed that there was not one scratch or mark on it, and also realized that the position of my car was against all possible laws of physics.

I was thankful that there were so many witnesses to this incident because it opened my eyes to the miracle that had just taken place. From my perspective nothing happened and I wasn’t hit. After the others told me what they saw. I realized that a force had protected me by lifting my car out of harm's way. Although I didn’t see or hear anything, I know the gentle tap and lift that I felt had to have been from my Guardian Angel.


My Guardian Angel on Highway 15

A couple of nights ago I was driving home late at night down the number 15 freeway. It was around 11:30 p.m. My son was lying down on the back seat with his head on the opposite side of my seat.

I started growing very sleepy and was having a difficulty keeping my eyes open. Just as I started to drift off I felt fingers around my left arm and a gentle squeeze. I was startled awake and said, "Nick, what are you doing!" I looked around quickly and realized at that time that my son was sound asleep and his hands were not in reaching distance of me.

At first I was scared and kept my eyes wide open and alert, wondering if I would feel it again. I kept looking behind me from time to time. After another twenty minutes or so I started to relax again. My eye lids were growing heavy. I felt the same sensation one more time, but this time I wasn’t afraid. I said out loud, "Okay, okay, I'll stay awake!" I felt the gentle touch of my Guardian Angel who was making sure we made it home safely.



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