14 Compassion and Forgiveness

14 Compassion and Forgiveness

Call to Worship:

John 11: 32-36
32 When Mary reached the place where Jesus was and saw him, she fell at his feet and said, “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died.”
33 When Jesus saw her weeping, and the Jews who had come along with her also weeping, he was deeply moved in spirit and troubled.
34 “Where have you laid him?” he asked.
“Come and see, Lord,” they replied.
35 Jesus wept.
36 Then the Jews said, “See how he loved him!”

For most of my life I have been tormented by my inability to forgive people who have injured me. I am always convicted by the directive to forgive 7 times 7, but also by the seemingly opposite directive not to throw my pearls before swine. A great man once taught me that the meaning of forgiveness is: "to give as before", a very difficult task given that the offender might offend again, regardless of our forgiving feelings. It always seemed to me that to “give as before” meant opening myself up to the possibility of repeated offenses—“if you deceive me once shame on you, but if you deceive me twice shame on me.” And yet Jesus tells us to forgive and forgive and forgive. How do I do that? WHY should I do that?

Well, for one thing, possibly the most important thing, I know that holding on to resentments puts a spiritual weight on myself, the bearing of which constitutes an impediment to my own personal spiritual growth.

In fact, in I.C. Sharma's book, Cayce, Karma, and Reincarnation, we find this knotty little sentence:

"But if we resist wishing ill to our ill-wisher, the negative effect of the mental karma reverts to the originator."

Every negative thought I carry around with me, about somebody else, is a negative burden on myself. I know I need to relieve myself of these burdens of resentment, grudges and wariness, by rising above the situation, by freeing myself of the bad attitude, and trying to see the offending person in the same light in which I saw them BEFORE the offense; but no matter how I swear to myself, in prayer, to greet my enemies with a smile of forgiveness, I continually fail, at the crisis, to live up to the standard of my self-made vows. I have tried many techniques and have failed to change myself. I always swear that my next encounter with the offender will be different, but, on confronting the offender, I keep lapsing into cold, negative, rejecting behavior. The good news is that, recently I have stumbled upon a new technique for changing the way I see the offending person, and this may be the way for me to conquer my cold-hearted ways—I am trying to learn to see my enemy through the eyes of COMPASSION.

The dictionary defines "compassion" as:

"a feeling of deep sympathy and sorrow for another who is stricken by misfortune, accompanied by a strong desire to alleviate the suffering."

The emphasis of this definition on the object of compassion as "one who suffers", shines a new light on the whole subject of forgiveness. Usually, when we cannot forgive, it is because we suffer from offense. Little do we realize that it is the offender who suffers most from his offense, it is he who is unfortunate, and it is he, therefore, who is an appropriate object of compassion. Notice that both "pity" and "forgiveness" reside under this single umbrella.

Compassion is not only a humble mental attitude, putting others' feelings ahead of our own, it is a superior mental perspective as well—it allows us to rise above all petty mundane considerations and view the BIG PICTURE. Compassion relieves us of the fear of mundane consequences by raising us ABOVE the material dimension to a higher mental state. And, of course, don't forget that our most radical exemplar of this higher mind state was Jesus.

One of the qualities of Jesus’ personality I have always so vastly admired was how FEARLESS He was. Jesus was never intimidated by the social forces bent on discrediting Him and destroying Him—and, to the end, He worshipped the divinity of His accusers and forgave them even as they crucified Him. What a guy! I want to be like that.

But I am NOT like that--I still suffer from a raucous cavalcade of petty fears, and endure endless inner dialogues with a cosmic cop, who enables my tendency to express every subtle glint of personal originality with feelings of guilt. My repressive Nazarene upbringing installed in my psycography an area of content that automatically generated feelings of guilt and fear; many things were included in this frontier, but mostly these guilt feelings registered whenever I took the tiniest toe-step outside the limits of the prescribed norm. To my mother, like the most traditional Hassid, every single everyday act was imbued with religious significance, and was therefore the proper domain for her ceaseless accusations and come-uppance. Hell was my homeland and to Hell I would return. Later we will discuss compassion and other human feelings as they are felt in the bowels--it was definitely in the deepest pit of my gut that I felt guilty, rejected and alone. Thus, slave as I am to emotional turmoil, I have seen the the only way for me to get free from my own mental shackles is to rise above them and witness the infinite beauty in every human being in the world, even the ones who have screwed me.

The rest of this sermon will be concerned with digging deeper into the PROCESS of forgiveness through compassion. We begin with a sermon from 1914, given by C.H. Spurgeon, which gives several examples of the compassion of Jesus:

"He was moved with compassion."—Matthew 9:36.

“This is said of Christ Jesus several times in the New Testament. The original word is a very remarkable one. It is not found in classic Greek. It is not found in the Septuagint. The fact is, it was a word coined by the evangelists themselves. They did not find one in the whole Greek language that suited their purpose, and therefore they had to make one. It is expressive of the deepest emotion; a striving of the bowels—a yearning of the innermost nature with pity. As the dictionaries tell us— Ex intimis visceribus misericordia commoveor. (from the depth of pity). I suppose that when our Saviour looked upon certain sights, those who watched him closely perceived that his internal agitation was very great, his emotions were very deep, and then his face betrayed it, his eyes gushed like founts with tears, and you saw that his big heart was ready to burst with pity for the sorrow upon which his eyes were gazing. He was moved with compassion. His whole nature was agitated with commiseration for the sufferers before him."


[Sidebar: This point about deep emotions being felt in the bowels is one that must be emphasized. The experience of feeling in the bowels, that is to say in the body, the feeling of shared experience of another in our physical being (we call this "empathy") is the carnal expression of compassion. Compassion, then, has two components:

1. a spiritual component which is above the sinner, the offender, and
2. a vital component which is the connecting link between the object of compassion and the one who feels compassion.

The flesh, being weak as it is, has exposed us all to unspiritual temptations, but this is also grounds for rejoicing because we may, like Jesus, transcend the limited boundary of our carnal identity, and vibrate sympathetically with our suffering companions, and pity them in our very physical being, thus allowing us to rise above, and enter the spiritual dimension of our relationship.

Back to Spurgeon:]

"This word is not used many times even by the evangelists, yet if you would sum up the whole character of Christ in reference to ourselves, it might be gathered into this one sentence,

"He was moved with compassion." . . .

Was he not moved with compassion when he entered into a covenant with his father on our behalf, even on the behalf of all his chosen—a covenant in which he was to be the sufferer, and they the gainers—in which he was to bear the shame that he might bring them into his own glory? Yes, verily, he was even then moved with compassion, for his delights even then were with the sons of men. Nor did his compassion peer forth in the prospect of an emergency presently to diminish and disappear as the rebellion took a more active form, and the ruin assumed more palpable proportions. 

It was no transient feeling. He continued still to pity men. He saw the fall of man; he marked the subtle serpent's mortal sting; he watched the trail as the slime of the serpent passed over the fair glades of Eden; he observed man in his evil progress, adding sin to sin through generation after generation, fouling every page of history until God's patience had been tried to the uttermost; and then, according as it was written in the volume of the Book that he must appear, Jesus Christ came himself into this stricken world. 

Came how? O, be astonished, ye angels, that ye were witnesses of it, and ye men that ye beheld it. The Infinite came down to earth in the form of an infant; he who spans the heavens and holds the ocean in the hollow of his hand, condescended to hang upon a woman's breast—the King eternal became a little child. Let Bethlehem tell that he had compassion. There was no way of saving us but by stooping to us. To bring earth up to heaven, he must bring heaven down to earth. Therefore, in the incarnation, he must bring heaven down to earth. Therefore, in the incarnation, he had compassion, for he took upon himself our infirmities, and was made like unto ourselves. Matchless pity, indeed, was this!

. . . His tender heart pities all the griefs of his dear people. There is not a pang they have but the head feels it, feels it for all the members. Still doth he look upon their imperfections and their infirmities, yet not with anger, not with loss of patience, but with gentleness and sympathy, "He is moved with compassion."

I am especially interested in the sentence, “To bring earth up to heaven, he must bring heaven down to earth.” Surely the act of rising above the sins of our oppressors, and the sins of our own intolerance involves bringing Heaven down to Earth, and viewing the offense from the Heavenly perspective which negates all significance of the sin and rather glories in the divinity of us all, a divinity either realized or merely potential.

From The Compassion of Christ by Wayne Jackson, we read:

“The saying is proverbial: “People do not care how much you know, until they know how much you care.” There is a measure of truth in that.

Consider the case of Jesus Christ. He was the most forceful, demanding teacher who has ever lived. He was the one who taught that even one’s closest family members must give way to loyalty to him, and that the true disciple must be willing to “bear his cross” for the Master (Matthew 10:34-39). In view of the rigorous nature of the Savior’s requirements, how does one account for his amazing popularity?

For one thing, the evidence supporting his claims was staggering. No honest person could deny it. Beyond that, a strong case can be made that Jesus’ compassion for the lost, as a reflection of his incredible love, made him a most attractive character. 

Our Sympathetic High Priest
There are several words in the Greek New Testament that reveal insights into the marvelous compassion of the Lord with reference to sinful, suffering humanity. Let us think about this for a moment.
The book of Hebrews (4:15) has this exciting passage:

“For we have not a high priest that cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities; but one who has been tempted like as we are, yet without sin.”

Of special interest is the term “touched.” It translates the Greek sympatheo, from sun (with), and patheo (to feel). Hence, the meaning is to feel with. Our English “sympathy” is derived from this word.

Michaelis notes that the term “does not signify a sympathetic understanding that is ready to condone, but a fellow feeling that derives from full acquaintance with the seriousness of the situation as a result of successfully withstanding the temptation” (Bromiley, 802-803). . .

A truly stunning case of the Master’s tender concern is observed in a circumstance recorded in Mark 3:

Jesus entered a Hebrew synagogue on the Sabbath day. There he encountered a man with a withered hand. The Jews suspiciously watched the Lord, to see whether or not he would heal the man, and thus, in their judgment, violate the sabbath by doing a good “work.” If he did, they would then “file charges.” It has always intrigued me that they anticipated the possibility of a miracle, yet had no interest in the Teacher’s message!
But Christ “knew their thoughts” (Luke 6:8), and understood the effect that sin had wrought in them, and it angered him (Mark 3:5). The Greek term for anger (orge) denotes a deliberate disposition, not an impulsive flash of wrath.

The most unusual thing about this episode, however, is the fact that Jesus was “grieved” over these hard-hearted men; hence, he healed the man’s withered hand in an attempt to soften them!

The original term that is rendered “grieved” (sunlupeo) is found only here in the entire New Testament. The noun lupeo (used 16 times in the New Testament) means sorrow or pain (either of body or mind). But the addition of the prefix sun, makes the term unique in the New Testament. 

Herodotus, the Greek historian, used the word to describe the emotions of certain citizens who offered their condolences to a man whose brother had just died (6.39).
In this passage, Mark seems to be suggesting the sympathetic nature of Jesus’ grief, as he contemplates the fact that these men were their own worst enemies (Vine, 362). What an index into the loving heart of the Son of God!

Perhaps the most dramatic biblical term denoting the idea of compassion is the word splanchnon. Literally, it signifies the intestines. When Judas committed suicide by hanging himself, his body eventually fell to the earth and “his intestines gushed out” (Act 1:18).

But both the Hebrews and the Greeks came to use the term in a figurative sense, for deep feelings of tenderness and compassion — much as when we use the term “heart,” as in, “I love her with all my heart.” There are several instances of where this word is employed to describe Christ’s feelings for the unfortunate.

Christ: “moved with compassion”
Jesus had this emotion for a poor man who was afflicted with the dreaded disease, leprosy (Mark 1:41). The gentleman met Christ, kneeled before him, and begged: “If you will, you can make me clean.” What confidence he had.

The Lord, “moved with compassion,” responded, “I will.” With but a touch of the Savior’s hand the man was instantly cleansed. Someone has aptly commented that it was only on account of the Lord’s compassion that he had a “hand” with which to touch the gentleman!

The purpose of the miracle, of course, was to establish the Messiah’s credibility as a teacher “come from God” (cf. John 3:2). Nevertheless, we must not overlook the fact that Jesus had sincere feelings for this man’s horrible plight.

The Lord is not going to miraculously deliver us from the physical effects of a sin-cursed world. It is noteworthy, though, that as we suffer, we may be assured of his genuine sympathy. 

Christ’s compassion for the people
The term splachnon is used to depict the concerned disposition that Jesus had for the confused Jews as they sought to find direction for their lives.

When the Savior heard the news of the murder of his friend, John the Baptizer, he took his disciples apart into a remote area near Bethsaida. But the multitudes followed after him. Mark says that Jesus “had compassion on them, because they were as sheep not having a shepherd” (6:34), and so, he “welcomed them” (Luke 9:11).

Think about it. The Lord set aside his own grief for his murdered cousin, a righteous man of God, to minister to these people who so desperately needed direction in their lives. What a man!"

The foregoing piece emphasizes the healing miracles of Jesus' compassion. But what about forgiveness? How does the healing reflect on the idea of forgiveness? Perhaps the key is in the phrase: "Forgiveness of sins".

The issue of the Divine right to forgive sins figures in the scripture:

Mark 2:5-7
"5 When Jesus saw their faith, he said to the paralyzed man, “Son, your sins are forgiven.”
6 Now some teachers of the law were sitting there, thinking to themselves,
7 “Why does this fellow talk like that? He’s blaspheming! Who can forgive sins but God alone?”

Obviously, Jesus' claim to be the Son of God includes a claim on the Divine right to forgive sins. Can we, too, claim the same right to forgive the sins of our enemies, and greet them "as before"? Ought we to do this because we know it is the right thing to do, or must we do it because we know about the deal the Father makes with sinners:

Mark 11:25
25 "And when you stand praying, if you hold anything against anyone, forgive him, so that your Father in heaven may forgive you your sins. "

1 John 1:9
9 "If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness."
Remember that Jesus' forgiveness is not some some half-hearted vestige, but a real commission of the offense to the so-called "sea of forgetfulness":

Micah 7:19
"He will turn again, he will have compassion upon us; he will subdue our iniquities; and thou wilt cast all their sins into the depths of the sea."

Hebrews 10:17
17 "Then he adds: "Their sins and lawless acts I will remember no more."

How is it possible to completely forget the sins of our enemies? Certainly one way is to realize that every sin we hold against another is a sin we hold against ourselves:

Romans 3:23-26
"For all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God, and are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God put forward as a propitiation by his blood, to be received by faith. This was to show God's righteousness, because in his divine forbearance he had passed over former sins. It was to show his righteousness at the present time, so that he might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus."

The act of "forgiving sins" is not unlike the act of "being born again". The newness of attitude that the forgetfulness of sins affords us, is the the newness of life offered to us by the mediation of Jesus Christ between God and Man. To forgive "as before", is the same as being born again, is the same as forsaking the "Old Man" for the "New Man". To live each moment of life in the present, devoid of past and future, is to live in the eternal Now of Infinity.

2 Corinthians 5:17

"17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!"

The new Man in Christ learns new strategies for dealing with the sins of others, including this no-nonsense instruction sheet:


Matthew 18:15-18

“If your brother sins against you, go and tell him his fault, between you and him alone. If he listens to you, you have gained your brother. But if he does not listen, take one or two others along with you, that every charge may be established by the evidence of two or three witnesses. If he refuses to listen to them, tell it to the church. And if he refuses to listen even to the church, let him be to you as a Gentile and a tax collector. Truly, I say to you, whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven."

This socio-political catechism leaves no room for harboring passive aggressive resentment--it is all about getting things out in the open and defeating the evils of hidden hatreds.

The following article mentions the social context in which the compassion of Jesus was demonstrated:

Jesus and His Tender Compassion, Weldon E. Warnock,
Guardian of Truth XXXVIII No.23, December 1, 1994:

"One of the greatest qualities in the life of Jesus was his willingness to enter into the human situation and to be deeply moved by tender compassion that compelled him to help and to heal. Jesus was never detached from, nor indifferent to human sorrow and suffering. People were never a nuisance to Jesus but an opportunity to serve.

According to Webster, compassion is "to suffer with another; hence, sympathy; sorrow for the distressed or unfortunate with the desire to help" (Webster's New Twentieth Century Dictionary, Unabridged, Second Edition). Webster then gives a poignant statement from South, "There never was a heart truly great and generous, that was not also tender and compassionate."

William Barclay wrote, 

"If there was one thing the ancient world needed it was compassion, pity and mercy." There was no concern for the sick and feeble, no provision for the aged and no feeling for the mentally and emotion-ally disturbed. Christ, however, in his appearance brought love, affection and care to a world of apathy and complacency."

Here are a few more scriptures concerning the compassion of Jesus. We will see that the compassionate acts of Jesus were not only confined to miracle healings, but also to taking care of His followers' physical need for food, and giving spiritual instruction:

Matthew 15:32

"And Jesus called His disciples to Him, and said, "I feel compassion for the people, because they have remained with Me now three days and have nothing to eat; and I do not want to send them away hungry, for they might faint on the way."

Mark 6:34

"When Jesus went ashore, He saw a large crowd, and He felt compassion for them because they were like sheep without a shepherd; and He began to teach them many things."

John 11:34-38

"and said, "Where have you laid him?" They said to Him, "Lord, come and see." Jesus wept. So the Jews were saying, "See how He loved him!". But some of them said, "Could not this man, who opened the eyes of the blind man, have kept this man also from dying?" So Jesus, again being deeply moved within, came to the tomb. Now it was a cave, and a stone was lying against it."

This scripture asks the big question: if Jesus knew He was going to raise Lazarus from the dead, why did He weep? We have previously agreed that it was because of His deep sympathetic resonance with the PEOPLE in His flock. So deep was His love for them, that their pain became His pain even though He, more than anyone, was able to RISE ABOVE IT. So must we rise above the transgressions of our enemies, and glory in the Oneness of ALL including that scumbag on the corner who stole my wallet.

This article by Rudolf Steiner places the idea of "compassion" into the context of generally accepted parameters of spiritual development and evolution, and indicates the price we must pay for holding on to bad feelings. Furthermore, it emphasizes the point, we have been making, that forgiveness of other peoples' sin requires not knowledge of the sinner, but "self-knowledge"--that to forgive another we must first forgive ourselves. Finally, it describes the dangerous thought forms that can invade the higher planes if we bring our petty emotional attitudes before the Heavenly authority:

Secrets of the Threshold – Lecture VIII – Munich, 31 August 1913

"The egoism we develop in the physical world, without being willing to acquire self-knowledge, shows up when it is carried into spiritual worlds. Nothing is so disturbing, nothing can be so bitter and disheartening as to experience the result of our failure to develop love and compassion in the physical world. Ascending into the spiritual world, we are filled with anguish by the selfishness and lack of love we have achieved in the physical-sense world. When we cross the threshold, everything is revealed, not only the obvious but also the hidden egoism that rages in the depths of men’s souls. Someone who with outward egoism frankly insists that he wants this or that for himself is perhaps much less egoistic than those who indulge in the dream that they are selfless, or those who assume a certain egoistic self-effacement out of theosophical abstractions in their upper consciousness. This is especially the case when the latter declaim their selflessness in all sorts of repetitions of the words “love” and “tolerance.” What a person carries up into higher worlds in the form of an unloving lack of compassion is transformed into hideous, often terrifying figures he meets on entering the spiritual worlds, figures that are extremely disturbing for the soul."

This next Steiner quote affirms significance of the term I have spoken of before: "humble pride". As I said above:

"Compassion is not only a humble mental attitude, putting others' feelings ahead of our own, it is a superior mental perspective as well—it allows us to rise above all petty mundane considerations and view the BIG PICTURE."

Rudolf Steiner  – From the Contents of Esoteric Classes – Berlin, 15th May 1908

"Some say that sympathy (compassion, pity) can also come from egoism. That may be the case. Many kinds of sympathy only arise because one doesn’t want to see other people suffer. That’s even a good thing. It’s better for a man to help someone out of egotistical sympathy than not to help him at all. But we must learn to develop a sympathy that stands above egoism, that helps fellowmen because it’s one’s duty to help them."

In conclusion, I wish to reiterate the main theme of this presentation: that compassion and forgiveness are linked, co-active—that one leads to the other. Compassion, the experience of sympathy and a desire to ease the suffering of others, inevitably enables the subject to view the suffering one from a higher mental perspective, and share his pain on one level, while rising above his pain on another level; remember that Jesus wept not because He thought death was a terrible thing, but because His friends did. Viewing reality from a higher mental perspective creates three changes in attitude toward those who trespass against us:

1. that we all are one, and share each others’ pains and joys through inherent sympathy,
2. that the one who offends us only truly hurts himself, and is therefore not deserving of more rejection from us, but is rather worthy of forgiveness, just as we forgive ourselves, and
3. that we are forgiven in direct proportion to our ability to forgive others.

When we fear entering into relationships flawed by past offenses, we must remember that the petty grudges of the present give rise to eternal punishments in the hereafter.

Let us pray: Jesus thank You for Your healing presence in our lives, lives so infected by mundane smallness we too easily forget the largeness of Your love, the depth of Your compassion. Let us day by day become more perfect imitators of Your infinitely patient and tolerant Self. Amen.

13 Angels in Christianity

13 Angels in Christianity

Two weeks ago I gave a presentation on angels as they appear in literature; at that time I suggested the idea that the language of art and the language of angels share so many common features as to be indistinguishable from each other. Last week I gave a cursory survey of angels as they figure into the doctrines and mythologies of many world religions. Today we will explore the role and significance of angels in the Christian cosmography.

There is one thing we must make perfectly clear at the outset, and that is: the fact that angels are described in so many different languages, in many different idioms, and are described in terms of culturally specific stereotypes does NOT mean they are somehow UNREAL. The image may be culturally specific, but the spiritual reality is universal--it is the same for any man on Earth. Indeed the universal presence of angels in the world collective mind does nothing but affirm their existence. I must emphatically attest that angels are real in every sense of the word, including the tangible reality of the physical dimension. Moreover, the interplay of higher and lower dimensions, as it runs through the entirety of creation, can not be more aptly symbolized than by the example of the relationship of angels to Man; angels crowd cosmic space with their benevolent (and malevolent) energies, and influence our thoughts and feelings in every moment of our lives. Thus, directing our attention to them cannot be thought of as less than of supreme importance, in developing our spiritual sensitivities.

In the following presentation we will cite MANY very REAL examples of angelic interaction with Man, and with Jesus.

As usual, we will begin with an overview taken off the internet:
The following is taken from The truth about angelic beings--What does the Bible really teach about angels? by Dr. Paul Eymann:

"Who or what are angels?
The word “angel” actually comes from the Greek word aggelos, which means “messenger.” The matching Hebrew word mal'ak has the same meaning."

[Sidebar: Two weeks ago I failed to emphasize the role of angelic messengers in my discussion of art and angelic language. Clearly, if angels bring us messages from the Divine, then the messages contained in artistic creations must be thought of as messages from Heaven. Again I refer to the idea that I make no distinction between church music and secular music--it is ALL sacred to me.

Back to Eymann:]

"Sometimes, the Bible uses these words for human beings: ordinary people who carry messages ·    prophets
·    priests
·    church leaders
Sometimes, it speaks figuratively of things or events as “messengers”…
·    the pillar of cloud
·    pestilence or plagues

But it usually describes the whole range of spirits whom God has created, including both good and evil angels, and special categories such as cherubim, seraphim, and the archangel.

Angels are mentioned at least 108 times in the Old Testament and 165 times in the New Testament. Hence, there is ample information available in Scripture to allow us to build a foundation for our knowledge of angelic beings.
Origin of angels
The Scripture speaks about the creation of angels, therefore, it is clear that they have not existed from all eternity (Nehemiah 9:6; Psalm 148:2,5). Colossians 1:16-17 explains:

“For by Him all things were created, both in the heavens and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things have been created by Him and for Him. And He is before all things, and in Him all things hold together.”

The time of their creation is never definitely specified, but it is most probable that it occurred in connection with the creation of the heavens in Genesis 1:1. It may be that God created the angels immediately after He had created the heavens and before He created the earth—for according to Job 38:4-7, “the sons of God shouted for joy” when He laid the foundations of the earth."

 The Bible describes the function of angels as "messengers" but does not indicate when the creation of angels occurred. Some Christians believe that angels are created beings, based on (Psalms 148:2-5; Colossians 1:16): "praise ye Him, all His angels: praise ye Him, all His hosts ... for He spoke and they were made. He commanded and they were created ...". The Fourth Lateran Council (1215) declared that the angels were created beings. The Council's decree Firmiter credimus (issued against the Albigenses) declared both that angels were created and that men were created after them. The First Vatican Council (1869) repeated this declaration in Dei Filius, the "Dogmatic constitution on the Catholic faith".

[Sidebar: The question, of WHEN in time the angels were created, has occupied theologians for centuries. It seems dumb to me, because the BEGINNING is a moment OUTSIDE TIME, and is therefore impossible to date. Nevertheless, the number of angels that will fit on the head of a pin continues to be argued in the halls of doctrinal learning and in theological writing. Of especial interest is not so much when the GOOD angels were created, but when the BAD angels were created--this, because the creation of BAD angels coincides with the creation of EVIL.

To add fuel to the fire, so to speak, ha ha, the following excerpt from the Catholic Encyclopedia suggests that Satan may have been pre-ordained to rebel against God, not only FROM the very beginning of Creation, but even BEFORE the beginning. The section has much to say about time and the very instant of creation:

"As might be expected from the attention they had bestowed on the question of the intellectual powers of the angels, the medieval theologians had much to say on the time of their probation. The angelic mind was conceived of as acting instantaneously, not, like the mind of man, passing by discursive reasoning from premises to conclusions. It was pure intelligence as distinguished from reason. Hence it would seem that there was no need of any extended trial.

And in fact we find St. Thomas and Scotus discussing the question whether the whole course might not have been accomplished in the first instant in which the angels were created. The Angelic Doctor argues that the Fall could not have taken place in the first instant. And it certainly seems that if the creature came into being in the very act of sinning the sin itself might be said to come from the Creator."

[Sidebar: Note how this sentence affirms William Blake's theory of contraries,
". . . the very act of sinning the sin itself might be said to come from the Creator."
If that's not a wild suggestion, I don't know what is!

However, remember that we are dealing with a spiritual world in which we encounter paradox at every turn in the road; that no moral imperative can remain untouched or unaltered by the flow of events through a warped window of time; furthermore, remember that Blake insists that it takes positive and negative to make a world, so why should not this characteristic not extend into the domain of the Mind of God; if He made such a world, how could it not?

Back to the Catholic Encyclopedia:]

"But this argument, [that "the very act of sinning the sin itself might be said to come from the Creator"] together with many others, is answered with his accustomed acuteness by Scotus, who maintains the abstract possibility of sin in the first instant.

But whether possible or not, it is agreed that this is not what actually happened. For the authority of the passages in Isaiah and Ezekiel, which were generally accepted as referring to the fall of Lucifer, might well suffice to show that for at least one instant he had existed in a state of innocence and brightness."

The imbroglio of complications surrounding the issue of the fall occurring in the second instant of creation works to support the idea that Satan's function in the cosmogony was an element in the total divine plan from its very inception. If Satan's fall occurred at the very instant of creation then it can be seen, or at least suggested, that the fall of Satan was not an act of pride on the part of the person himself, but was always part of the divine plan in the mind of God before creation. Furthermore this goes to support the idea that, rather than being a rebellious angel, Satan is merely an Angel performing the function for which he was he was created in the first instant by God. It was a dirty job, but SOMEBODY had to do it.


The Wikipedia summary of the subject of angels runs thus:]

CHRISTIANITY
"Just about every sect of Christianity has accepted the angelic beliefs from the Jewish scriptures. There’s further mention of angels are made in the New Testament. It is angels who herald the coming of Christ. In the gospels, it’s an angel that appears to Mary to tell her that she’s with child, and an angel appears to Joseph to tell him that Jesus will be God’s son. It’s also angels that appear to the shepherds in the fields to announce the birth of Christ.

Later Christians inherited Jewish understandings of angels, which in turn may have been partly inherited from the Egyptians. In the early stage, the Christian concept of an angel characterized the angel as a messenger of God. Later came identification of individual angelic messengers: Gabriel, Michael, Raphael, Uriel, and Lucifer. Then, in the space of little more than two centuries (from the 3rd to the 5th) the image of angels took on definite characteristics both in theology and in art.

According to St Augustine,

" 'Angel' is the name of their office, not of their nature. If you seek the name of their nature, it is 'spirit'; if you seek the name of their office, it is 'angel':

from what they are, 'spirit', from what they do, 'angel'" Basilian Father Thomas Rosica says,

"Angels are very important, because they provide people with an articulation of the conviction that God is intimately involved in human life."

By the late 4th century, the Church Fathers agreed that there were different categories of angels, with appropriate missions and activities assigned to them. There was, however, some disagreement regarding the nature of angels. Some argued that angels had physical bodies, while some maintained that they were entirely spiritual. Some theologians had proposed that angels were not divine but on the level of immaterial beings subordinate to the Trinity. The resolution of this Trinitarian dispute included the development of doctrine about angels.

The angels are represented throughout the Christian Bible as spiritual beings intermediate between God and men:

"You have made man a little less than the angels ..." (Psalms 8:4-5).

Thomas Aquinas (13th century) relates angels to Aristotle's metaphysics in his Summa contra Gentiles, Summa Theologica, and in De substantiis separatis, a treatise on angelology. Although angels have greater knowledge than men, they are not omniscient, as Matthew 24:36 points out:

"But of that day and hour knoweth no man, no, not the angels of heaven, but my Father only."


INTERACTION WITH ANGELS

 Hebrews 13:2

"Forget not to show love unto strangers: for thereby some have entertained angels unawares."

The New Testament includes many interactions and conversations between angels and humans.

For instance, three separate cases of angelic interaction deal with the births of John the Baptist and Jesus Christ.

In Luke 1:11, an angel appears to Zechariah to inform him that he will have a child despite his old age, thus proclaiming the birth of John the Baptist.

In Luke 1:26 the Archangel Gabriel visits the Virgin Mary in the Annunciation to foretell the birth of Jesus Christ.

Angels then proclaim the birth of Jesus in the Adoration of the shepherds in Luke 2:10.

According to Matthew 4:11, after Jesus spent 40 days in the desert,

"...the devil left him and, behold, angels came and ministered to him."

In Matthew 28:5 an angel speaks at the empty tomb, following the Resurrection of Jesus and the rolling back of the stone by angels.

In 1851 Pope Pius IX approved the Chaplet of Saint Michael based on the 1751 reported private revelation from archangel Michael to the Carmelite nun Antonia d'Astonac.

In a biography of Saint Gemma Galgani written by Venerable Germanus Ruoppolo, Galgani stated that she had spoken with her guardian angel.

Pope John Paul II emphasized the role of angels in Catholic teachings in his 1986 address titled "Angels Participate In History Of Salvation", in which he suggested that modern mentality should come to see the importance of angels."

[Sidebar: An undercurrent in the background of this remark about reviving modern consciousness of angels goes back to the Church Scholastics of the 1200s who edited church doctrine so as to de-emphasize what they considered to be the dangerously pervasive SUPERSTITIOUS beliefs in the collective mind. Thus the church itself taught us to mystify rather than affirm the presence of supernatural entities present in out daily lives, just because some people went too far and burned a bunch of witches. This is another example of how the CHURCH has consistently thrown the baby out with the bath.

Back to Wikipedia; what follows is a summary of doctrine, concerning angels, of two Christian denominations, the New Church, and the Church of Latter Day Saints:]

The New Church

"The New Church (or Swedenborgianism) is the name for several historically related Christian denominations that developed as a new religious movement, informed by the writings of Swedish scientist and theologian Emanuel Swedenborg (1688–1772). In the New Church, there is extensive information provided concerning angels and the spiritual world in which they dwell from many years of spiritual experiences recounted in the writings of Emanuel Swedenborg.
All angels are in human form with a spiritual body, and are not just minds without form. There are different orders of angels according to the three heavens, and each angel dwells in one of innumerable societies of angels. Such a society of angels can appear as one angel as a whole. All angels originate from the human race, and there is not one angel in heaven who first did not live in a material body. Moreover, all children who die not only enter heaven but eventually become angels. The life of angels is that of usefulness, and their functions are so many that they cannot be enumerated. However each angel will enter a service according to the use that they had performed in their earthly life.
   
Names of angels, such as Michael, Gabriel, and Raphael, signify a particular angelic function rather than an individual being. While living in one's body an individual has conjunction with heaven through the angels, and with each person, there are at least two evil spirits and two angels. Temptation or pains of conscience originates from a conflict between evil spirits and angels. Due to man's sinful nature it is dangerous to have open direct communication with angels and can only be seen when one's spiritual sight has been opened. Thus from moment to moment angels attempt to lead each person to what is good tacitly using the person's own thoughts."

[Sidebar: The idea of angels "using the person's own thoughts" to provide spiritual insight is one of the tricky aspects of this personal experience of angelic communion. Indeed, one of the most daunting issues, encountered by individuals devoted to developing their own spiritual sensitivities, is the problem of how to distinguish thought forms that originate from within their own subjective reality, as opposed to thought forms that originate from OUTSIDE.

The fact is that angels are constantly impressing thought forms on our consciousness—thought forms which we often mistake for our own; when we start intensifying our prayer times with conversations with angels, we sometimes can't distinguish between what WE are thinking and what THEY are thinking. Consequently, the novice will find it difficult to believe in the supernatural character of what he is experiencing; thus, by virtue of his own doubts, he leaves his personal mind field open to invasion by malevolent angels whose purpose is to confound and pervert the otherwise wholesome act of angelic communion. To be sure, the ability to tell the difference between Heavenly and Infernal messages goes hand in hand with what Swedenborg would call "opening the spiritual eye".

To be sure there are telltale signs that enable the experienced devotee to make this distinction, but it takes practice, and it takes many failures before the armor of God is firmly enough in place to permanently ward off Satanic influence entirely.

Back to Wikipedia:

LATTER DAY SAINTS
"ADHERENTS OF THE CHURCH OF JESUS CHRIST OF LATTER-DAY SAINTS (LDS CHURCH) VIEW ANGELS AS THE MESSENGERS OF GOD. THEY ARE SENT TO MANKIND TO DELIVER MESSAGES, MINISTER TO HUMANITY, TEACH DOCTRINES OF SALVATION, CALL MANKIND TO REPENTANCE, GIVE PRIESTHOOD KEYS, SAVE INDIVIDUALS IN PERILOUS TIMES, AND GUIDE HUMANKIND.

Latter Day Saints believe that angels either are the spirits of humans who are deceased or who have yet to be born, or are humans who have
been resurrected or translated and have physical bodies of flesh and bones, and accordingly Joseph Smith taught that

"there are no angels who minister to this earth but those that do belong or have belonged to it."

As such, Latter Day Saints also believe that Adam, the first man, was and is now the archangel Michael, and that Gabriel lived on the earth as Noah. Likewise the Angel Moroni first lived in a pre-Columbian American civilization as the 5th-century prophet-warrior named Moroni.

Joseph Smith, Jr. described his first angelic encounter thus:

"While I was thus in the act of calling upon God, I discovered a light appearing in my room, which continued to increase until the room was lighter than at noonday, when immediately a personage appeared at my bedside, standing in the air, for his feet did not touch the floor.

He had on a loose robe of most exquisite whiteness. It was a whiteness beyond anything earthly I had ever seen; nor do I believe that any earthly thing could be made to appear so exceedingly white and brilliant ...

Not only was his robe exceedingly white, but his whole person was glorious beyond description, and his countenance truly like lightning. The room was exceedingly light, but not so very bright as immediately around his person. When I first looked upon him, I was afraid; but the fear soon left me."

What follows is a complete list of all the New Testament quotations of Jesus referring to angels--it is a short list. There is only ONE New Testament story of a personal encounter of Jesus with angels:

Matthew 18:10:

"See that you do not despise one of these little ones, for I say to you that their angels in heaven continually see the face of My Father who is in heaven.

Matthew 22:30:

"For in the resurrection they neither marry nor are given in marriage, but are like angels in heaven.”

Matthew 25:41:

"Then He will also say to those on His left, 'Depart from Me, accursed ones, into the eternal fire which has been prepared for the devil and his angels;”

Mark 8:38:

“If anyone is ashamed of me and my words in this adulterous and sinful generation, the Son of Man will be ashamed of them when he comes in his Father’s glory with the holy angels.”

Luke 12:8-9:

"And I say to you, everyone who confesses Me before men, the Son of Man will confess him also before the angels of God; but he who denies Me before men will be denied before the angels of God.”

Luke 15:10:

"In the same way, I tell you, there is joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents.”

Luke 16:22:

"Now the poor man died and was carried away by the angels to Abraham's bosom; and the rich man also died and was buried.”

Luke 20:36:

". . . for they cannot even die anymore, because they are like angels, and are sons of God, being sons of the resurrection."

The single account of Jesus in the presence of angels occurs in the Garden of Gethsemane when Jesus is struggling with the decision to submit to His own crucifixion:

Luke 22:41-43:

"He withdrew about a stone’s throw beyond them, knelt down and prayed, 'Father, if you are willing, take this cup from me; yet not my will, but yours be done.'" An angel from heaven appeared to him and strengthened him.”

Just a few minutes later, Roman authorities arrive to arrest Jesus, and one of Jesus’ disciples tries to defend Jesus by cutting off the ear of one of the men in the group. But Jesus responds this way:

Matthew 26:52-54:

"'Put your sword back in its place,'" Jesus said to him, 'for all who draw the sword will die by the sword. Do you think I cannot call on my Father, and he will at once put at my disposal more than twelve legions of angels? But how then would the Scriptures be fulfilled that say it must happen in this way?"

In a way it is surprising that Jesus mentions angels so few times, if they are so ever-present; but on the other hand, His directive to “pray unceasingly” might be considered to be an indication of His constant contact with Heavenly intelligence.



Back to Wikipedia:

Angels and Guardian Angels in the New Testament
"Many people today are interested in guardian angels and whether or not the Bible teaches that God assigns every person, or every believer, a guardian angel. Although most scholars reject the idea of Guardian Angels, some Bible verses seem to suggest special angelic assignments to individuals, churches and nations:

Matt. 18:10:

“Take heed that ye despise not one of these little ones; for I say unto you, That in heaven their angels do always behold the face of my Father which is in heaven.”

In the New Testament, angels appear as the ministers of God and the agents of; and Jesus speaks of angels as fulfilling such functions (Mark 8:38, 13:27), implying in one saying that they neither marry nor are given in marriage (Mark 12:25). Angels are most prominent in the book of Revelation.

Other angelic appearances in Scripture: The angel Gabriel appeared to Mary in the traditional role of messenger to inform her that her child would be the Messiah, and other angels were present to herald his birth. An angel appeared at Jesus' tomb, frightened the Roman guards, rolled away the stone from the tomb, and later told the myrrh-bearing women of Jesus' resurrection. Two angels witnessed Jesus' ascent into Heaven and prophesied his return. When Peter was imprisoned, an angel put his guards to sleep, released him from his chains, and led him out of the prison. Angels fill a number of different roles in the book of Revelation. Among other things, they are seen gathered around the Throne of God singing the "Holy, holy, holy" hymn (Rev. 4-5).

Artistic and Literary Depictions of Angels in Christianity
In art angels are frequently depicted as human in appearance, though many theologians have argued that they have no physical substance. (Hence the frequently recounted tale of Scholastics arguing about how many angels could fit on a pinhead; if angels possess physical bodies, the answer is "a finite number", if they do not, the answer is "an infinite number".) Seraphim are often depicted as six wings radiating from a center — either concealing a body, or without a body.

Beginning in the end of the 4th century, angels were depicted with wings, presumably to convey the idea of swift movement and traveling to and from heaven, or to depict them as spirits. Scholastic theologians teach that angels are able to reason instantly, and to move instantly. They also teach that angels are intermediaries to some forces that would otherwise be natural forces of the universe, such as the rotation of planets and the motion of stars. Angels possess the beatific vision, or the unencumbered understanding of God (the essence of the pleasure of heaven). Furthermore, there are more angels then there are anything else in the universe (although when first written this would have probably not included atoms since atomic structure was not known).

Religious thought about the angels during the middle ages was much influenced by the theory of the angelic hierarchy set forth in the The Celestial Hierarchy, written in the 5th century in the name of Dionysius the Areopagite. The creeds and confessions do not formulate any authoritative doctrine of angels; and modern rationalism has tended to deny the existence of such beings, or to regard the subject as one on which we can have no certain knowledge. The principle of continuity, however, seems to require the existence of beings intermediate between man and God.

Some Christian traditions hold that angels are organized into three major Hierarchies which are subdivided into orders or Choirs, and list as many as ten orders of angels. This is particularly clear in the above-mentioned The Celestial Hierarchy, which gives the names that have become part of tradition: Angels, Archangels, Principalities, Powers, Virtues, Dominions, Thrones, Cherubim, and Seraphim. In this hierarchy, the Cherubim and Seraphim are typically closest to God, while the Angels and Archangels are most active in human affairs. Many of these names come from verses in the Bible which would appear at first to be referencing a literal thing, although retroactively suggesting that they really mention angels can also make sense in the context. For example the verse in Paul "our struggle is not with earthly things but with principalities and powers" (meaning, according to most theologians, the fallen angels of those choirs, used as an example of all the fallen angels).

Some Christian traditions also hold that angels play a variety of specific roles in the lives of believers. For instance, each Christian may be assigned a guardian angel at their baptism (although never defined by the Catholic or Orthodox churches, this is personally held by many church members and theologians). Each consecrated altar has at least one angel always present offering up prayers, and a number of angels join the congregation when they meet to pray. In the story of the 40 martyrs of Sebaste, in which 40 Christian Roman soldiers were made to stand naked on a frozen lake in the snow until they renounced their faith, angels were seen descending from Heaven placing the crowns of martyrs on their heads.

In many informal folk beliefs among Christians concerning the afterlife, the souls of the virtuous dead ascend into Heaven to be converted into angels. However, this belief is not supported by the Bible and theologians are quick to discount it.

Sometimes referred to as “spirit guides” or “guardian spirits”, the use of the term ‘angel’ tends to carry specific Judeo-Christian connotations in western societies that have fallen out of fashion with some. The description of the being is the same, however. No matter what they’re called, it seems that most people in most societies have accepted them as a part of life.”

We can see from all the preceding material that many Christians not only affirm the existence of angels in the abstract, but also attempt to cultivate an active relationship with them, seeking spiritual guidance and power.  When we pray, we think we are addressing the Father or the Son directly, but in light of the foregoing, it is quite possible that we are speaking to the Divine through the mouthpiece of angels.

This is something to consider in prayer, since we like to know who we are talking to when we are on the HELP line. Nevertheless, it is not unreasonable to suggest that our prayers are addressed to God through the medium of angelic intelligence.

On the subject of prayer through angels, here is a remark by Lorna Byrne from: What Is the Relationship Between God, Angelic Beings and Humans?

“How was the relationship between God, angelic beings and humans designed? Why is everyone assigned an angel or multiple angels, are they the lifeline to God?

I see a guardian angel with everyone, regardless of their religion, or whether they believe in angels. I see angels physically, as I see a person standing in front of me, and I have done so every day since I was a baby.

Everyone has only one guardian angel and this angel is with them from before their birth until after they die. This angel never ever leaves them, not even for one moment. I will often see other angels with someone in addition to their guardian angel. These angels come and go and it is their guardian angel who allows them to be there.

The guardian angel is a gift from God and is the gatekeeper of your soul. Your guardian angel is there to help to guide you through life, to help to make you aware that you are more than a physical body that you have a soul and that God is real. One of its most important tasks is to bring your soul home safely to Heaven when you die.

Your guardian angel is a lifeline between you and God. If God didn't give us a guardian angel we would find it much more difficult to connect with Him. Don't misunderstand me. I am not saying that we need to go through angels to reach God -- far from it. I have never in my life prayed to an angel; I pray to God, but I know the angels enhance my prayer.”

We have already made the point that angels attempt to lead each person to what is good, tacitly using the person's own thoughts. Here, with the sentence, “I know the angels enhance my prayer” we encounter the same principle—that Angelic language is an ever-present component of communion with the Divine.

In conclusion, I would like to share this anecdote from the internet article Angels appear as humans by Jim Bramlett:

“This is one of the incidents reported to me. It reportedly happened in the Atlanta, Georgia area, on I-285 near "Spaghetti Junction." I traced the incident from a friend in California California to a United Airlines pilot in Chicago, then to at least 15 others in Atlanta, including a medical doctor.

A lady passed a hitchhiker on the expressway, giving no thought to stopping. But she heard a voice say, "Pick him up." She did not stop, but continued on. But she again heard the voice: "I told you to pick him up." She now felt compelled to go back. She turned off the expressway, then got back on via an access road. She thought it would be unlikely that the person would still be there, but if he was, she would pick him up. To her surprise, the man was still there, so she stopped. He got into the car. They chatted for a few moments, then after a brief pause, the stranger said, "Do you know the Lord Jesus Christ is coming soon?" On hearing that, the woman glanced toward the stranger -- but he was not there. He had suddenly and unexplainably vanished!

She was so shaken that she had to pull off the expressway. After sitting there a few minutes trying to regain her composure, a policeman pulled up behind her, got out of his car, went up to her window and said, "Ma'am, is there a problem?"

She replied, "Officer, if I told you what just happened to me, you wouldn't believe it."

The policeman urged her to tell him anyhow. She described what had just happened. He responded, "Ma'am, normally I would think that you were one of the craziest people I have ever seen, but you are the seventh person today to give me this same report."

I find this to be a charming story, and also a powerful indicator of the kind of strategies angels use to bless us and protect us. I hope that, as I grow spiritually, I can become ever more attuned to the proper frequency on which angels impart wisdom and comfort.

Let us pray: Jesus, thank you—we always thank you, the primary source of all the good things in our lives. Thank you for sending your angels to listen to us, sending You our prayers, and sending back your answers. Let us never lose faith in the communication with the Divine which takes place in every context in which the heart opens to the Divine. Amen.

12 Angels in World Religions

12 Angels in World Religions

Last week we reviewed the subject of angels as they appear in a number of selected literary works from various historical periods. Today we will see how angels are depicted in the doctrines of some non-Christian religions.

To begin, here is an introductory note from Wikipedia:

    Angels

“The majority of people in the world believe there are angels. Interestingly enough, there are more people who believe in angels than there are people who believe in a Higher Power, oddly enough. They are found in just about every religion and culture throughout the ages, and the most fascinating thing is that accounts are strikingly similar.”

From Spring Wolf’s Spiritual Network-Angels explained:

“Angels: {Latin: angelus} ~ {Greek: angelos; "a super natural being"} ~
{Hebrew: malak; "a messenger"}
A being empowered as a messenger of the divine, for divine justice, guidance and/or protection

An Overview
Let's start with the misconception that Angels are strictly Christian or non-pagan. They're not. Mythology of Angels existed long before Judaism and Christianity.
Angels also are major figures in Buddhism, Hinduism, and in Celtic and Norse mythology as well as in many Shamanistic legends. But not all of these call these entities "angels", just like not everyone refers to a prayer as a mantra, or a spell of protection a prayer. 

While Metaphysics, Pagan Metaphysics and non-Pagan religions all have their concepts of Angels and Demons they are not exactly the same. The theories or beliefs coincide and overlap at some points, and others set in stone details or structures that cannot be crossed.”

I will begin our angel review with Judaism, because the Jewish culture is the source of many of our Christian concepts of angels. Surprisingly, there is really quite a lot of material here. I say surprisingly, because I don't usually think of the Jewish religion as a particularly mystical religion. We are familiar with the many, many Jewish rituals that crowd the activities of their daily lives, but these rituals always have their basis in law, which has its basis in practicality. The mystical writings like the Kabbalah are not the first things think of when we think about Jews. So this somewhat lengthy discussion of Angels, in the Jewish culture, is especially interesting. After a review of Judaism we will branch out and look at some oriental perspectives, and some historical perspectives.


JUDAISM

The Jewish scriptures use the term 'messenger of God' to refer to angels. They're also mentioned in the Kabbalah. Angels were seen as semi-divine beings who were never human, who served God, carrying out tasks for Him as necessary. Sometimes it was to bring messages, sometimes to help test people, sometimes to fight and sometimes to save people.

The oldest portion of the Bible, known as the Pentateuch, uses the (Hebrew) terms מלאך אלהים (mal'āk̠ 'ĕlōhîm; messenger of God), מלאך יהוה (mal'āk̠ YHWH; messenger of the Lord), בני אלהים (bənē 'ĕlōhîm; sons of God) and הקודשים (haqqôd̠əšîm; the holy ones) to refer to beings traditionally interpreted as angels. Later texts use other terms, such as העליונים (hā'elyônîm; the upper ones).

The term מלאך (mal'āk̠) is also used in other books of the Tanakh; a similar Arabic term, ملائكة (malā'ikah), is used in the Qur'an. Depending on the context, the Hebrew and Arabic words may refer to a human messenger or to a supernatural messenger. A human messenger might be a prophet or priest, such as Malachi, "my messenger"; the Greek superscription in the Septuagint translation states the Book of Malachi was written "by the hand of his messenger" ἀγγέλου angélu. Examples of a supernatural messenger are the "Malak YHWH," who is either a messenger from God, an aspect of God (such as the Logos), or God himself as the messenger (the "theophanic angel.")

Scholar Michael D. Coogan notes that it is only in the late books that the terms "come to mean the benevolent semi divine beings familiar from later mythology and art." Daniel is the first biblical figure to refer to individual angels by name, mentioning Gabriel (God's primary messenger) in Daniel 9:21 and Michael (the holy fighter) in Daniel 10:13. These angels are part of Daniel's apocalyptic visions and are an important part of all apocalyptic literature. Coogan explains the development of this concept of angels: "In the postexilic period, with the development of explicit monotheism, these divine beings—the 'sons of God' who were members of the Divine Council—were in effect demoted to what are now known as 'angels', understood as beings created by God, but immortal and thus superior to humans." This conception of angels is best understood in contrast to demons and is often thought to be "influenced by the ancient Persian religious tradition of Zoroastrianism, which viewed the world as a battleground between forces of good and forces of evil, between light and darkness." One of these is hāšāṭān, a figure depicted in (among other places) the Book of Job.

Philo of Alexandria identifies the angel with the Logos inasmuch as the angel is the immaterial voice of God. The angel is something different from God Himself, but is conceived as God's instrument.

In post-Biblical Judaism, certain angels took on particular significance and developed unique personalities and roles. Though these archangels were believed to rank among the heavenly host, no systematic hierarchy ever developed. Metatron is considered one of the highest of the angels  in Merkabah and Kabbalist mysticism and often serves  as a scribe; he is briefly mentioned in the Talmud and figures prominently in Merkabah mystical texts. Michael, who serves as a warrior and advocate for Israel (Daniel 10:13), is looked upon particularly fondly. Gabriel is mentioned in the Book of Daniel (Daniel 8:15–17) and briefly in the Talmud, as well as in many Merkabah mystical texts. There is no evidence in Judaism for the worship of angels, but there is evidence  for the invocation and sometimes even conjuration of angels.

Medieval Jewish philosopher Maimonides explained his view of angels in his Guide for the Perplexed II:4 and II
“... This leads Aristotle in turn to the demonstrated fact that God, glory and majesty to Him, does not do things by direct contact. God burns things by means of fire; fire is moved by the motion of the sphere; the sphere is moved by means of a disembodied intellect, these intellects being the 'angels which are near to Him', through whose mediation the spheres [planets] move ... thus totally disembodied minds exist which emanate from God and are the intermediaries between God and all the bodies [objects] here in this world.”
—Guide for the Perplexed II:4, Maimonides

According to Kabalah, there are four worlds and our world is the last world: the world of action (Assiyah). Angels exist in the worlds above as a 'task' of God. They are an extension of God to produce effects in this world. After an angel has completed its task, it ceases to exist. The angel is in effect the task. This is derived from the book of Genesis when Abraham meets with three angels and Lot meets with two. The task of one of the angels was to inform Abraham of his coming child. The other two were to save Lot and to destroy Sodom and Gomorrah.
INDIVIDUAL ANGELS
From the Jewish Encyclopedia, entry "angelology".
•    Michael (translation: who is like God?), kindness of God*
•    Gabriel (archangel) (translation: the strength of God), performs acts of justice and power*
*These are the only two angels mentioned by name in the Hebrew Bible; the rest are from extra-biblical tradition.

•    Raphael (translation: God Heals), God's healing force
•    Uriel (translation: God is my light), leads us to destiny
•    Samael (translation: the severity of God), angel of death—see also Malach HaMavet (translation: the angel of death)
•    Sandalphon (translation: bringing together), battles Samael and brings mankind together
•    Jophiel (translation: Beauty of God), expelled Adam and Eve from the Garden of Eden holding a flaming sword and punishes those who transgress against God.
Hermetic Qabalah
According to the Kabbalah as described by the Golden Dawn there are ten archangels, each commanding one of the choir of angels and corresponding to one of the Sephirot. It is similar to the Jewish angelic hierarchy.

As in so many ancient religions there is no lack of highly specific organization. It is interesting to me how the mystical beings of light have been arranged in hierarchical choirs, each of which has a very specific function. But how could this be without some kind of direct human-angelic interaction?"

We now turn to ISLAM:

“Angels are mentioned repeatedly in both the Koran and the Hadith. Islam teaches that angels are God's messengers. Unlike humans, they have not been given the gift of free will-- their job is to act as messengers, to test people, record deeds, guard, and even to question the dead. An example of a task they carry out is that of testing individuals by granting them abundant wealth and curing their illness. Believing in angels is one of the six Articles of Faith in Islam.

Some examples of angels in Islam:

•    Jibrail: the archangel Gabriel (Jibra'il or Jibril) is an archangel who serves as a messenger from God.
•    Michael (archangel): or Mikail, the angel of nature.
•    Israfil (Arabic: إسرافيل, translit.: Isrāfīl, Alternate Spelling: Israfel or Seraphim, Meaning: The Burning One  ), is the angel of the trumpet in Islam, though unnamed in the Qur'an.

Along with Mikhail, Jibrail and Izra'il, he is one of the four Islamic archangels. Israfil will blow the trumpet from a holy rock in Jerusalem to announce the Day of Resurrection. The trumpet is constantly poised at his lips, ready to be blown when God so orders.

•    Darda'il: the angels who travel in the earth searching out assemblies where people remember God's name.
•    Azrael is Azraa-eel or Izrail: the Angel of Death. No authentic reference of this in Quran or Hadeeth. Only referenced as angel of death or ملك الموت.
•    Kiraman Katibin: the two angels who record a person's good and bad deeds.
•    Mu'aqqibat: a class of guardian angels who keep people from death until its decreed time.
•    Munkar and Nakir: the angels who test the faith of the dead in their graves. They ask the soul of the dead person questions. If the person fails the questions, the angels make the man suffer until the Day of Judgement. If the soul passes the questions, he will have a pleasant time in the grave until the Day of Judgement.
•    Ridwan: the angel in charge of maintaining Jannat or Paradise.
•    Maalik: the angel who keeps or guards hellfire.
•    Harut and Marut  are two angels mentioned in the second Surah of the Qur'an, who were sent down to test the people at Babel or Babylon by performing deeds of magic. (Sura Al-Baqara, verse 102.) The Qur'an indicates that although they warned the Babylonians not to imitate them or do as they were doing, some members of their audience failed to obey and became sorcerers, thus damning their own souls.”

•    HINDUISM

•    Hinduism is known as the world's oldest living religion. It's one of the first religions for which we have scriptures, and some of those scriptures date back nearly 6,000 years. In Hinduism, besides the major Gods there are a host of minor Gods called 'devas'.
•    The word deva means 'shining one', and they were believed to inhabit the astral plane, the higher plane of existence. Devas played the role of protector to humans. It was believed that, though spiritual in nature, devas could appear to us in human form and they were believed to bring messages or help guide people in their spirituality.
•    Hinduism has many different types of spiritual beings who act in a similar capacity to Angels. One example is the minor gods, or devas, referred to as the "shining ones". They inhabit the higher astral plane of the divine world. Gods, devas, planets like Sani (Saturn), gurus (teachers), and ancestors can all play a protective role for humans. The Asuras are also a component of Hinduism. They are also referred to as evil spirits or demons. They are fallen devas who inhabit the lower astral plane, the mental plane of existence. Much like the fallen angels outlined in Christian philosophy. If an Asuras does a good dead, they can be reincarnated into devas and do not have to remain eternally in the lower plane. Hinduism also includes Apsaras, who are heavenly nymphs, who preside over sacrifices, and lipika, who regulate karma. Devas and asuras can inspire or bring down aspirants, helping or hindering people on their spiritual journey.
 

Buddhism 

•    The Buddhists for instance refer to angels as devas, or celestial beings. Some paths of Buddhism use the label dharmapalas or dharma protectors. In Tibetan Buddhism, devas are sometimes considered to be emanations of bodhisattvas or enlightened beings. Other paths of Buddhism have specific important devas, as they are often derived from pre-Buddhist cultures and religions and not from Buddhist philosophy itself. So these paths encorporated pre-Buddhist local or regional mythology into their Buddhist paths long ago.

GREECE

    •    Ancient philosopher Aristotle believed in the 'first mover'-- or an immortal being that never changed who was responsible for the order and wholeness of the universe. According to Aristotle, just as there is a First Mover, so, too, must there be spiritual secondary movers.
    •    In Neo-Platonism, the second movers became associated with angels. The word 'angel' actually comes from the Greek word angelos, meaning 'messenger'.
    •    In the commentaries of Proclus (4th century, under Christian rule) on the Timaeus of Plato, Proclus uses the terminology of "angelic" (aggelikos) and "angel" (aggelos) in relation to metaphysical beings.

Norway

    •    In Norse mythology the equivalent angels are the Valkyries who were originally sinister spirits of slaughter, dark angels of death who soared over the battlefields like birds of prey, carrying out a warrior’s fate in the name of Odin. They chose the heroes of the battle and took them away to Valhalla, the heavenly home of honor for Odin's ghostly army. In later Norse mythology, the Valkyries were romanticized as Odin's Shield-Maidens, virgins with golden hair and snowy arms who served the chosen heroes everlasting mead and meat in the great hall of Valhalla. They also soared over the battlefield as lovely swan-maidens or splendid mounted Amazons. This was portrayed in the Volsung Saga and Niebelungenlied, where the heroine Brynhild was a beautiful fallen Valkyrie.

 

       Celtic

In Celtic mythology, the Faeries were often seen as the helpers of mankind. They too have many corolations to their deeds as an angel would. There are a few lesser Goddesses which also acted as Angels; and perhaps that's why they're often referred to as the lesser Goddesses, such as the goddess Sirona.

         ZOROASTRIANSM

•    Zoroastrianism believed in a being referred to as 'Fravashi'.
In Zoroastrianism,  the ancient religion that developed in Persia (now Iran) during about 1,000 B.C.E., there are different angel-like figures. These were beings of light that manifested the energy of the Divine. They believed that each person had at least one Fravashi, seen as a guardian angel. The Fravashi patronize human beings and other creatures, and also manifest God's energy. The Amesha Spentas have often been regarded as angels, although there is no direct reference to them conveying messages, but are rather emanations of Ahura Mazda ("Wise Lord", God); they initially appeared in an abstract fashion and then later became personalized, associated with diverse aspects of the divine creation.

BAHA'I

In the Baha'i faith, angels are seen to come to us as confirmations that there is a celestial, powerful God and to reveal God's 'abounding grace' to humankind. They're described as 'blessed beings' that have transcended this world and are released from the 'chain of self', gone on to take on their angelic attributes.

In his Book of Certitude Bahá'u'lláh, founder of the Bahá'í Faith, describes angels as people who "have consumed, with the fire of the love of God, all human traits and limitations", and have "clothed themselves" with angelic attributes and have become "endowed with the attributes of the spiritual".

'Abdu'l-Bahá describes angels as the "confirmations of God and His celestial powers" and as "blessed beings who have severed all ties with this nether world" and "been released from the chains of self", and "revealers of God's abounding grace". The Bahá'í writings also refer to the Concourse on High, an angelic host, and the Maid of Heaven of Bahá'u'lláh's vision.

Sikhism

The poetry of the holy scripture of the Sikhs – the Sri Guru Granth Sahib – figuratively mentions a messenger or angel of death, sometimes as Yam and sometimes as Azrael ("Ajraeel"):

The Messenger of Death will not touch you; in this way, you shall cross over the terrifying world-ocean, carrying others across with you.

Chitar and Gupat, the recording angels of the conscious and the unconscious, write the accounts of all mortal beings, but they cannot even see the Lord's humble devotees. However, Sikhism has never had a literal system of angels, preferring guidance without explicit appeal to supernatural orders or beings.

Theosophy

In the teachings of Theosophy, Devas are regarded as living either in the atmospheres of the planets of the solar system (Planetary Angels) or inside the Sun (Solar Angels) and they help to guide the operation of the processes of nature such as the process of evolution and the growth of plants; their appearance is reputedly like colored flames about the size of a human. It is believed by Theosophists that devas can be observed when the third eye is activated. Some (but not most) devas originally incarnated as human beings.  

It is believed by Theosophists that nature spirits, elementals (gnomes, undines, sylphs, and salamanders), and fairies can be also be observed when the third eye is activated.  It is maintained by Theosophists that these less evolutionarily developed beings have never been previously incarnated as humans; they are regarded as being on a separate line of spiritual evolution called the "deva evolution"; eventually, as their souls advance as they reincarnate, it is believed they will incarnate as devas.  

It is asserted by Theosophists that all of the above-mentioned beings possess etheric bodies that are composed of etheric matter, a type of matter finer and more pure that is composed of smaller particles than ordinary physical plane matter.

Contemporary belief in angels

A 2002 study based on interviews with 350 people, mainly in the UK, who said they have had an experience of an angel, describes several types of such experiences: visions, sometimes with multiple witnesses present; auditions, e.g. to convey a warning; a sense of being touched, pushed, or lifted, typically to avert a dangerous situation; and pleasant fragrance, generally in the context of somebody's death. In the visual experiences, the angels described appear in various forms, either the "classical" one (human countenance with wings), in the form of extraordinarily beautiful or radiant human beings, or as beings of light.

In the US, a 2008 survey by Baylor University's Institute for Studies of Religion, published by TIME magazine,  which polled 1,700 respondents, found that 55 percent of Americans, including one in five of those who say they are not religious, believe that they have been protected by a guardian angel during their life. An August 2007 Pew poll found that 68 percent of Americans believe that "angels and demons are active in the world", and according to four different polls conducted in 2009, a greater percentage of Americans believe in angels (55%) than those who believe in global warming (36%). 

According to the Gallup Youth Survey, in a Teen Belief in the Supernatural poll of teenagers (aged 13–17):
in 1978, 64% of American young people believed in angels;

in 1984, 69% of teenagers believed in angels;

and by 1994, that number grew to 76%,
while belief in other supernatural concepts, such as the Loch Ness monster and ESP, has declined.

In 1992, 80% of 502 surveyed teenage girls believe in angels, and

81% of Catholic teens and 82% of regular church attendees harbored beliefs in angels.

According to another set of Gallup polls, designated towards all Americans,
in 1994, 72% of Americans said they believed in angels, while in

2004, 78% of the surveyed Americans indicated belief in angels,

with the percentage of Americans that did not believe in angels dropping from 15% to 10%,

and the percentage of Americans that were "not sure" dropping from 13% to 11%.
A 2008 survey of over 1000 Canadians found 67 percent believe in angels.

These are just a fraction of the representations of angels in various religions. In modern times, many people who consider themselves non-religious, non-spiritual, agnostic or even atheistic, continue to believe in the presence and intervention of angels in human life."

The so-called New Age spirituality cannot be properly called a religion, per se, but it has brought lots of newly articulated spiritual concepts to the table. The following excerpt from Castaneda's Yaqui Way of Knowledge discusses a shamanistic view of paranormal entities which are apparently, a direct analog to ANGELS:

"They saw that the inanimate energy has no awareness. Awareness, for shamans, is a vibratory condition of animate energy. Don Juan said that the shamans of ancient Mexico were the first ones to see that all the organisms on Earth are the possessors of vibratory energy. They called them organic beings, and saw that it is the organism itself sets up the cohesiveness and the limits of such energy. They also saw that there are conglomerates of vibratory, animate energy which have a cohesion of their own, free from the bindings of an organism. They called them inorganic beings, and described them as clumps of cohesive energy that are invisible to the human eye, energy that is aware of itself, and possesses a unity determined by an agglutinating force other than the agglutinating force of an organism.

The shamans of Don Juan's lineage saw that the essential condition of animate energy, organic or inorganic, is to turn energy in the universe at large into sensory data. In the case of organic beings, the sensory data is then turned into a system of interpretation in which energy at large is classified, and a given response is allotted to each classification, whatever the classification may be. The assertion of sorcerers is that in the realm of inorganic beings, the sensory data into which energy at large is transformed by the inorganic beings, must be by definition, interpreted by them in whatever incomprehensible form they may do it.

There are two nuggets here I would like to emphasize:

"there are conglomerates of vibratory, animate energy which have a cohesion of their own, free from the bindings of an organism"

Clearly, the universally upheld definition of angels is that they are free from the bindings of organisms, and:

"the essential condition of animate energy, organic or inorganic, is to turn energy in the universe at large into sensory data"

This idea is in agreement with the idea, as proclaimed by Steiner, that angels impress spiritual energy onto the devotee's astral body, transforming it into information that is somehow able to be interpreted by the human senses.

Another new age slant on angels is that of Tom Kenyon:

"In this message we wish to discuss our perspective regarding the nature of angels. This has nothing to do with religion. Rather it has to do with interdimensional reality.

For our purposes we shall divide the topic of angels into three broad categories. 

Angels of the Spiritual Realms
These ephemeral beings are electromagnetic fields of intelligence, some of which have form that is recognizable and some of which do not. These electromagnetic fields of intelligence interact with human beings in unique ways, and the expectations and beliefs of any given human have a lot to do with the nature of the experience. In other words, the belief system of the human being greatly affects what is experienced.

Angels from the spiritual realms take many different forms and while some of them have energy fields that give the impression that they have wings, many of them do not.

These types of angels are created beings. They are force fields of intelligence that are sent out into the ethers, into the cosmos, to do the bidding or to take the action of their creator.

This creator can take the form of what might be referred to as a god, goddess, demigod or demigoddess, an interdimensional being, an alien intelligence, or even a human being. These types of angels have no free will of their own. They are created for the sole purpose of a particular intention.

In most cases an angel will continue on its mission with single-mindedness until the energy that created it is no longer able to sustain it. In some very rare instances these angelic beings can gain a level of self-awareness and an ability to make personal choices separate from the being that created them or gave them birth. This is a very rare occurrence, but it does exist.

Within this category of angels, you have a host of beings with many different intentions.

The focus of this message is on angels who have a life-affirming and positive intent.

Angels Within
A second category of angels may best be described as electromagnetic fields of intelligence that exist solely within the human body. These are force fields of intelligence created through the emotions and beliefs of the individual human. They are subtle energetic forces that move through the human body in response to beliefs and emotions.

One of the great abilities you possess as a human being is to create angelic forces within your body through the use of positive intent and positive emotion.

Alien Intelligences
This third category of angels is not angelic at all, but it is a misinterpretation.

It occurs when a human being encounters an alien intelligence. This type of encounter can be misinterpreted as having been an interaction with an angel. Many of your spiritual and religious traditions have stories about encounters with angelic beings, or gods/goddesses who were, in truth, simply more advanced alien civilizations."

Of particular interest in this last excerpt is the way the line between angelic entities and human entities is blurred. Much of the preceding material poses the question of whether when you die do you become an Angel or not. Clearly the Mormons and the Hindus have the idea that a human being can ascend into an Angelic state, whereas the other philosophies maintain that angels are the angles of God, with no personal identity, and who cease to exist once their ACTION has been performed. The Kenyon quote suggests even more complicated alternative answers to this question.

What this tells me is not that the truth of angels is quintessentially one thing or another, but merely that there are different categories of higher beings, some of whom are angels and some of whom are something completely different. For me, I prefer the abstract interpretation of an angel: that angels are merely ANGLES of God and have no actual personality of their own; this is what I was taught when I first got my spiritual awakening. But' clearly there are differences of opinion on this point. Hence, the arrangement of angels into distinct choirs or functions turns the term "angel" into a categorical designation rather than a specific designation; in other words, any of a number of very different higher beings which are considered miraculous by us on the lower plane, can be termed "angels" in a generic sense.

This is something to consider in prayer, since we like to know who we are talking to when we are on the HELP line. Nevertheless, it is not unreasonable to suggest that our prayers are addressed to God through the medium of angelic intelligence, whether it be Jewish angelic intelligence, Hindu angelic intelligence, or Islamic angelic intelligence.

We can see from all the preceding material that most religions of the world not only affirm the existence of angels in the abstract, but encourage their devotees to cultivate an active relationship with them, seeking spiritual guidance and power.  When we pray, we think we are addressing the Father or the Son directly, but in light of the foregoing, it is quite possible that we are speaking to the Divine through the mouthpiece of angels.


Next week we will examine angels from the strictly Christian perspective.

Let us pray. Jesus we know you hear our prayers and we thank for answering them in the language you think best speaks to our deaf human ears. Amen.

11 ANGELS IN LITERATURE

11 ANGELS IN LITERATURE

Last week we discussed the role of "Soldiers of God" in the ongoing battle between Good and Evil. In that sermon much was said  about Satan's minions, whom we fight ceaselessly with a righteous hatred. Seen as "fallen" angels,  the powers of these servants of Satan may seem super-human, and supernatural--beyond the scope of our understanding; and yet we defeat these fallen Angels daily, with the aid of righteous angels, the good guys.

I would like to spend several weeks thinking about angels, so I will break the subject down into sub-headings, as I have done with various other large subjects. Today we will simply review the literary perspective on angels, and go on from there. This a good way to begin, because, as I have said many times before, heaven speaks to us through thoughts expressed out of our mouths in words; indeed, inspired words can convey spiritual reality into the physical, no matter if they are in the form of holy scripture, or in the form of a poem written by a six-year-old. Thus, the poet may speak as effectively about angelic reality as the priest.

[Sidebar: In this presentation we will be speaking primarily of angels represented in literary works, because words are easier to read than pieces of music or paintings; but the main premise that art transmits Divine Truth to the physical applies equally to all the arts.]

In fact, it is my opinion that artists are able to reveal spiritual truths in ways or in intensities that are uniquely available to them, at the exclusion of other modes of communication, including Holy scripture. All articulate expressions contain kernels of the ultimate truth, but the way this truth is packaged is different from one idiom to another; it is therefore not outrageous to suggest that the artist may make divine truth accessible to men in a way that is often more immediate and potent than the medium of so-called "divinely inspired" writing.

On this subject, Evelyn Underhill has this to say:

"Artists, aware of a more vivid and more beautiful world than other men, are always driven by their love and enthusiasm to try and express, bring into direct manifestation, those deeper significances of form, sound, rhythm, which they have been able to apprehend: and, doing this, they taste deeper and deeper truths, make ever closer unions with the Real. 
    For them the duty of creation is tightly bound up with the gift of love."

   
In all humility, I have always thought of myself, my artist self, as a kind of secular priest, and my music as a kind of sacred ministry. I can only hope that I am not kidding myself.
                                              
As we begin our examination of angels as they appear in literary works, it will come as no surprise to hear that the angelic identity which has, historically, been most attractive to artists, as a character in their fictions, is Satan. Something about Satan excites the imagination--his color, his depth, and his vividness weave an other-worldly illusion, while providing materials for the type of carnal excitation that is a fundamental component of art. Carnal is the word: as the Christ Consciousness incarnated in the body of Jesus, so does the voice of God descend upon us through the physical. Satan, as the ultimate paradigm of  self-obsessed carnality, must therefore necessarily play a part in any honestly human expression. We have heard William Blake repeatedly attest that the personality of Man is comprised of both the white and the dark, in a divine balance, in order to experience the wholeness of life. Also, if art actually does imitate life, and life is a balance between good and evil, then it should be no surprise that, in addition to the good in life, the artist will tend to represent, in firry colors and desperate conflict, his primary spiritual opponent; indeed, Satan, bedecked in archetypal regalia, dominates the foreground of many a dramatic proscenium, as the artist, in his effort to bring the truth of the Christ consciousness into the world, portrays the paradox of life in the articulate language of his chosen medium.

So here is some preliminary background taken from the Angelsreading.com website:

Angels in Literature
"The angel has been an almost indispensable literary symbol for many poets and writers. In particular, one class of them, the Devil and his legions, has provided a vast source of inspiration. Of all Christian characters, Satan has appealed most strongly to the poets of all ages and languages, and it may be said that the Devil, from his minor place in the Holy Scriptures, has dominated most literary forms to the present day. Although writers such as Pedro Calderon, John Milton, Johann Goethe, and Lord Byron were fascinated by this character, the most distinguished poet to dedicate a considerable part of his body of work to the court of Satan was no doubt Dante Alighieri. At the core of Dante’s Divina Commedia is Satan, who dwells in the apex of hell and a multitude of angels who reside in his Paradiso."

[Sidebar: in the Paradiso Dante Alighieri speaks of the spiritual blessings we receive for our portion on the Earth as "bread of angels."

"O you, who in some pretty boat,
Eager to listen, have been following
Behind my ship, that singing sails along
Turn back to look again upon your own shores;
Tempt not the deep, lest unawares,
In losing me, you yourselves might be lost.
The sea I sail has never yet been passed;
Minerva breathes, and pilots me
Apollo, And Muses nine point out to me the Bears.
You other few who have neck uplifted
Betimes to the bread of angels upon
Which one lives and does not grow sated,
Well may you launch your vessel
Upon the deep sea."

We will come back to this idea of "the bread of angels upon Which one lives and does not grow sated" when we get to the subject of angelic language. But, essentially, it seems to me, the whole thing is about packaging--how does divine energy enter the physical? How do we ingest spiritual food? There are so many ways. The bread of life appears on the cosmic grocery shelf in diverse containers.

Back to Angelsreading.com:]

"Belief in the Devil was traditionally accompanied by belief in witchcraft, widely considered a manifestation of diabolical activity, especially during the Middle Ages. Many allusions to good angels assisting in human warfare against demonic powers can be found in the secular literature of the period. An example appears in scene IV of William Shakespeare’s Hamlet when the young prince of Denmark, upon seeing his father’s ghost, exclaims, “Angels and ministers of grace defend us!” Angels are again called upon in the final scene of Hamlet when Horatio, holding the dead prince, offers this farewell: “Good night, sweet prince, / And flights of angels sing thee to thy rest!”

Angels all but disappeared from literature with the passing of the Middle Ages, but one can witness their resurrection from the humanistic Renaissance, and their persistence from the sixteenth century down to the present day. However, Satan is not a character that dominates the literature of the Renaissance, in part due to the period’s reaction against medieval thought."

[Sidebar: It is interesting to note that, even as the church has struggled to defeat the mobs of superstitious thoughts that teem in the heads of their congregations, the way the Gospel of Thomas presents demonology is much more in conformity with what most people think, than the doctrine professed by the church fathers. Furthermore, since all mythological expressions require stereotypes, it is interesting that the most popular angelic AND demonic stereotypes were originated by the Church Scholastics of the 1200s.

Back to Angelsreading.com:]

"One of the most significant post-medieval angelologies can be found in the writings of Emanuel Swedenborg (1688-1772), who devoted himself to studies arising out of what he claimed to be persistent communications from angels and other agencies in a spiritual world. He used the concept of angels to make the nature and vitalities of the spiritual world come alive to a society that had lost sight of the reality of the spiritual realm. According to Swedenborg, angels are realities far superior to humankind, and are able to communicate wisdom because they are capable of receiving it. In his writings about the angelic world, he asserts that angelic writing is very different from human writing. They express affections with vowels, whereas with consonants they express the ideas springing from the affections. In angelic language a few words can express what it takes pages of human writing to say. He also asserts that angels have no personal power since they are only agents of God, and if an angel doubted the source of his power he would instantly become so weak that he could not resist a single evil spirit."

I would like to emphasize this idea that

"In angelic language a few words can express what it takes pages of human writing to say".

Again, referring back to the previous sentence,

". . .it is my opinion that artists are able to reveal spiritual truths in ways or in intensities that are uniquely available to them, at the exclusion of other modes of communication,"

is it not clear that the angelic truths manifested in art are of a denser, more intense, resolution than other forms of expression, and might this be a key identifier of spiritual truth? Communications from Heaven are constantly manifesting in the physical, but the depth of impression these communications leave on the soul is determined by the unique character of the expression's language. The idea puts me in mind of the famous Mendelssohn quote concerning the SPECIFICITY of musical expressions:

"People often complain that music is too ambiguous, that what they should think when they hear it is so unclear, whereas everyone understands words. With me, it is exactly the opposite, and not only with regard to an entire speech but also with individual words."

This statement clearly makes a case for musical expression as compressed spiritual truth, saying in a flash what words must take pages to say. I think angels must talk faster than we do. (Perhaps thought conveys information at the speed of light?) This reminds me of a central concept in my doctoral thesis: that the moment of intuitive re-centering is preceded by an acceleration of conceptual material in search of a resolved end condition; acceleration always plays a part in spiritual experience. Therefore, the truths expressed in art surely may be thought of as angelic truths, as they feature the same rhythmic and proportional characteristics of angelic language.


As you can see, this discussion has wended its way toward the subject of angelic language. We admit that the expression “spiritual language” is almost an oxymoron, since the truth veiled in the Cloud of Unknowing defies verbal expression; and yet if spiritual language can be transformed and elevated, just as any other spiritual state can be, it may be proper to speak of an angelic language; it is therefore just as proper to speak of angelic language manifested in art.

As we know, Swedenborg had regularly recurring conversations with angels, and was therefore familiar with angelic language. Swedenborg encouraged others to enjoy such conversations. However, according to Swedenborg, we in the natural world can only see angels here when our spiritual eyes are opened. Swedenborg received his revelation by the same process of his spiritual eyes being opened by God. This idea suggests that angelic messages may only be received through super-human dimensions of human intelligence.

On this subject, I found a couple of interesting Swedenborg quotes:

"The angels taken collectively are called heaven, for they constitute heaven; and yet that which makes heaven in general and in particular is the Divine that goes forth from the Lord and flows into the angels and is received by them."

"Man was so created by the Lord as to be able while living in the body to speak with spirits and angels, as in fact was done in the most ancient times; for, being a spirit clothed with a body, he is one with them."

Back to Angelsreading.com:]

"The works of Swedenborg had a significant impact on the mystical poet William Blake (1757-1827). Angels literally abound in Blake’s writings and drawings. Blake, who was probably more familiar with reincarnation and the karmic principal than most Englishmen of his day, regarded angels as the real forces behind the lives of mortal men and women. He was preoccupied with angels, both celestial and infernal, and the struggle between spirits of light and dark took on a vivid reality."

Here is one of the many pictures of angels by Blake; it represents two Guardian Angels hovering over the Baby Jesus.

                                              
I also found this charming 3-line poem by Blake:

"The Angel that presided o'er my birth
Said, 'Little creature, formed of joy and mirth,
Go love without the help of any thing on earth."

Back to Angelsreading.com:]

"Other poets similarly regarded angels as very real forces and called upon them frequently in a number of literary works. Robert Browning, for example, in the poem The Guardian Angel, implores his angel to take charge of the creative process;

"I would not look up thither past thy head
Because the door opes, like that child, I know,
For I should have thy gracious face instead,
Thou bird of God! And wilt thou bend me low
Like him, and lay, like his, my hands together,
And lift them up to pray, and gently tether
Me, as thy lamb there, with thy garment’s spread?"

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow often espoused on the language spoken by the angels. This is from the poem Footsteps of Angels:

"With a slow and noiseless footstep
Comes that messenger divine,
Takes the vacant chair beside me,
Lays her gentle hand in mine.

And she sits and gazes at me
With those deep and tender eyes,
Like the stars, so still and saint-like,
Looking downward from the skies.

Uttered not, yet comprehended,
Is the spirit's voiceless prayer,
Soft rebukes, in blessings ended,
Breathing from her lips of air."

Back to Angelsreading.com:]

"In Victorian literature it was very common to find the use of angels as intermediaries between God and man. An example is a poem by Leigh Hunt called Abou ben Adhem, in which the main character wakens one night to find an angel writing in a book of gold the names of all those who love God."

Another Hunt poem places the angel in the bedroom:

An Angel in the House
"How sweet it were, if without feeble fright,
 

Or dying of the dreadful beauteous sight,
 

An angel came to us, and we could bear
 

To see him issue from the silent air
 

At evening in our room, and bend on ours
 

His divine eyes, and bring us from his bowers
 

News of dear friends, and children who have never
 

Been dead indeed,--as we shall know forever.
 

Alas! we think not what we daily see
 

About our hearths,--angels that are to be,
 

Or may be if they will, and we prepare
 

Their souls and ours to meet in happy air; 

--
A child, a friend, a wife whose soft heart sings
 

In unison with ours, breeding its future wings."

This reminds me of something my son Emlyn said when he was about two years old:

"I fly with the angels at night in my bed."

From the Ascension Research Center:]

"Angels are close to humanity, yet unseen by most. The word "angel" is derived from the Greek word "angelos" and the Latin word "angelus", both meaning "messenger." Angels appear to have wings due to the Light that radiates out in rays or waves that take on an appearance similar to feathers."
Here are some suggested "real" photographs:

"Angels are entrusted with the role of serving the Sons and Daughters of God through the release of powerfully positive feelings and vibrations. The feeling nature of Angels enables them to infuse matter with the constructive aspects of Divine Qualities and Consciousness. . . 

Artistic and Literary Depictions of Angels in Christianity
In art angels are frequently depicted as human in appearance, though many theologians have argued that they have no physical substance. (Hence the frequently recounted tale of Scholastics arguing about how many angels could fit on a pinhead; if angels possess physical bodies, the answer is "a finite number", if they do not, the answer is "an infinite number".) Seraphim are often depicted as six wings radiating from a center — either concealing a body, or without a body.

Beginning in the end of the 4th century, angels were depicted with wings, presumably to convey the idea of swift movement and traveling to and from heaven, or to depict them as spirits. Scholastic theologians teach that angels are able to reason instantly, and to move instantly. They also teach that angels are intermediaries to some forces that would otherwise be natural forces of the universe, such as the rotation of planets and the motion of stars. Angels possess the beatific vision, or the unencumbered understanding of God (the essence of the pleasure of heaven). Furthermore, there are more angels than there are anything else in the universe (although when first written this would have probably not included atoms since atomic structure was not known)."

The image of a universe filled will angels, as benevolent omnipresent agents of good, is very often encountered in literature, as it is in mythology; indeed, the Greek gods, goddesses, nymphs and dryads may be easily identified as angels. Here is a lovely poem by Emily Dickinson about the presence of angels in nature:


"Angels, in the early morning
 

May be seen the Dews among,
 

Stooping -- plucking -- smiling -- flying -- 

Do the Buds to them belong?
Angels, when the sun is hottest
 

May be seen the sands among,
 

Stooping -- plucking -- sighing -- flying --
 

Parched the flowers they bear along."

This poem by Stephen Crane extends the analogy, distinguishing between human activity and angel activity:


"It was wrong to do this," said the angel.
" 

You should live like a flower,
 

Holding malice like a puppy,
 

Waging war like a lambkin." 

"Not so," quoth the man
 

Who had no fear of spirits;
 

"It is only wrong for angels
 

Who can live like the flowers,
 

Holding malice like the puppies,
 

Waging war like the lambkins."

Rabindranath Tagore takes the human/angel comparison even further, emphasizing the NEED for angels in human activity:

The Child-Angel
by Rabindranath Tagore

"They clamour and fight, they doubt and despair,
they know no end to their wrangling.
Let your life come amongst them like a flame of light, my
child, unflickering and pure, and delight them into silence.
They are cruel in their greed and their envy, their words are like
hidden knives thirsting for blood.

Go and stand amidst their scowling hearts, my child, and let
your gentle eyes fall upon them like the forgiving peace of the
evening over the strife of the day.

Let them see your face, my child,
and thus know the meaning of all things;
let them love you and thus love each other.
Come and take your seat in the bosom of the limitless,
my child.

At sunrise open and raise your heart
like a blossoming flower,
and at sunset bend your head and in silence
complete the worship of the day."

In conclusion, let me remind you of the main premise of this sermon: that literary expressions may contain divine intelligence of equal significance to the "divinely inspired" scriptures, and that the language of angels is well suited to the language of art--a language that features compression of ideas and acceleration of experience, not unlike the language of angels as represented by Swedenborg, i.e., "In angelic language a few words can express what it takes pages of human writing to say".

A further thought in Swedenborg calls to me--it is this:

"The angels taken collectively are called heaven, for they constitute heaven; and yet that which makes heaven in general and in particular is the Divine that goes forth from the Lord and flows into the angels and is received by them."

"The Divine that goes forth from the Lord and flows into the angels. . ."

I'm thinking of that mind-boggling idea that the Christ Consciousness can be in a million places at once. Accepting as doctrine, this omnipresent attribute of the Christ Consciousness, we therefore affirm that Jesus watches over all of us and helps us all, all the time. If we accept the idea, as Swedenborg says, that the divine flows down into the angels, then it is easy to accept the idea that there is a Guardian Angel assigned to every human being in the world, continuing the flow on through them down to us. This extravagance of Love flowing from the Father seems natural to us because it is true. My point here is that the omniscient Christ Consciousness transmits its message of mystery to Men through a vast population of conduits called ANGELS.

And, to reprise this point one more time: the language of art reveals Divine Truth in a language that is structured by rhythmic and proportional parameters characteristic of angelic language.

Let us pray: Jesus, thank you for making available to us access to Divine Truths, embedded in the physical, which we extract with Divine Intelligence and Enlightenment. Thank you for the medium of art which represents these Truths in language, and duplicates these living Truths in our hearts. Amen.