[Steve Myers] Does everyone have a guardian angel? As a pastor I've been asked that question many times over the years. The Bible shows us that angels play significant roles in our world, yet they are profoundly misunderstood in popular imagination. Today, we'll debunk many myths and answer your key questions about angels.

Angels are always in style. They've been a part of famous artwork, ancient texts, popular novels and stories for thousands of years. Even today, musicians sing about them. I heard a beautiful song popularized by Jen Bostik and Donna Taggart. It's called "Jealous of the Angels." You may have heard it at a funeral. Listen to the lyrics. They say, “you're not really gone as long as I believe. There will be another angel around the throne tonight. God must need another angel. I'm jealous of the angels around the throne tonight.” Now, consoling words, assuring thoughts, comforting to many people but that doesn't mean it's true.

Without thinking too many people base their religious beliefs on what they've always heard or what seems good. What about the true ideas of angels? You see that falls into that category. When you think about literature or the internet most of what you find is based on fables and myths and popular assumptions, but what's the real story? What can you know for sure about angels? In fact what does the Bible actually say about them? Well first did you know there's around 400 verses in the Bible with the word angel in them? So obviously the Bible has a lot to say about angels. So make no mistake, they certainly exist and they play an important role as well. They have a role in the work of God and it's very different from what you may believe. In fact when you examine what Scripture says, that's when you can begin to understand the true nature of angels and what their role is all about.

The Bible shows they are spirit beings. They were brought into existence for a purpose. In fact, an amazing purpose and one that involves you and when you look up the story begins a long time ago. In fact before time as we know it, and we find it mentioned in the book of Job in your Bible. God asked Job a question. He said, "Where were you when I laid the foundations of the earth? As the morning stars sang together and all the angels shouted for joy?" You see that passage tells us angels existed before our planet was even formed, before the universe was formed.

Now, were they always there? Who actually made them? Were they created? What? Well the Bible tells us Jesus Christ was the one that through Him, all things were created that are in heaven and that are on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or principalities or powers. So that passage certainly points to the fact that angels must be created beings.

So are there just a few of them, maybe a hundred of them, a thousand? How can we know? Well the Bible has something to say about that as well. Moses saw an amazing spectacle when he went up to Mount Sinai, we've probably heard those stories about him receiving God's law, the 10 Commandments. And it was an awesome sight. In Deuteronomy 33, verse two, it says, "The Lord came from Mount Sinai and He showed His greatness." Then you know what it says? He came with thousands of angels. One translation says myriads of holy ones.

So when we recognize that, we understand the profits of old witnessed these visions about God, about His throne and about angels, and this vast number of them. The Prophet Daniel wrote about angels. And he said, "A river of fire was flowing in front of Him." In front of God. "Many thousands of angels were serving Him, and millions of angels stood before Him." Now we get an idea how many there really are. And of course you compare what Daniel said in the Old Testament to what's there in the New Testament as well.

Turn to the back of your Bible and what you'll find in Revelation chapter five verse 11 tells us John, the one who was inspired to write the book of Revelation. He says, “He looked again and I heard the voices of thousands and millions of angels around the throne and of the living beings and elders." And so He put all those things together. Obviously the angels are so many we can't really count them. In fact some translations of the original text simply say an innumerable multitude, or just a countless number. So it's interesting.

There are definitely plenty of these created angelic spirit beings, but have you ever wondered what were they created for? Why were they created? Well, there's so much to learn about angels and we'd like to help you to understand. So order our study aid "Angels: God's Messengers and Spirit Army." Call us at the number on your screen. You can get your own free copy mailed directly to you. Or if you'd like to, go to beyondtoday.tv, it's right there on our website. You can read it online or you can even order yourself a copy if you'd like or download it for later. This study guide will certainly make it easier for you to understand proper understanding about angels. What's their purpose and how does it affect you? So you definitely want to discover the truth about these amazing spirit beings.

So let's go back to our question for a moment. Why? Why? Why did God create the angels? Certainly a big difference between the human creation and the angelic creation, mankind was created for a different purpose than the angels. We humans we're physical beings, but angels are spirit beings. We're made out of flesh, they were created holy without sin, made of spirit. Now they never die. They're powerful as well. Now they're not God, they're not all powerful, but they certainly are powerful beings. Yet we human beings, we have so much greater potential. We have the opportunity to join the family of God at a much higher level than the angels and in fact we see why that's the case.

What do angels have to do with us? Well, one of those things is mentioned in the book of Hebrews, very beginning of the book chapter one, verse 14, it tells us, "Aren't all the angels ministering spirits who are sent to serve those who are going to inherit eternal life?" So we find very clearly said in the Bible, angels were designed as servants of God but meant to aid us, care for you and for everybody, for people, those especially it says who will inherit eternal salvation, eternal life. And so you could say they are, they are special assists of God's creative work. Do you realize that God is at work? He created the universe. He created life on our planet and the Father and Jesus Christ sustain and they direct this creation for His purposes. And so to help in that work angels were created and so you could say they exist to help God bring many children into His Kingdom.

Of course one way that man is being served by angels is that they are messengers. The Bible reflects the fact they give messages on behalf of God. There's a beautiful psalm that reflects that very thing. Psalm 104, verse four, it says, "The angels are His messengers, His servants of fire." And so we find angels who are sinless, immortal spirit, spirit beings with great power. And that's got to remind us that we can't let modern interpretations, those misrepresentations of angels that are all around us it seems, don't let them fool you. In fact one misunderstanding that's fairly common. Did you know that when angels manifest themselves to people, there're no wings, no halos, no other religious type stuff. In fact we can distinguish between their actual form in spirit, which we really can't see and then how they appear to people in person. I mean, their true and actual spirit form hasn't truly fully been revealed to us. But when an angel comes to someone and appears in the Bible, that angel has the appearance of a young man. They don't appear like an old man. They don't appear like a little child. They don't appear like a woman. In fact you probably seen those pictures in classical paintings that give them two wings and maybe turn them into a little baby and they flit around and maybe they're sitting on the clouds with their harps and all those types of images. You see, that does not match God's word. You'll never find a biblical depiction anything like that. In fact, maybe it's a surprising fact.

Did you know that no angels in the Bible are mentioned to have only two wings, none. You may even heard some of the names of different angels. We have the cherubim and the seraphim. Mean, both of these kinds of angels do have wings in their spirit form. And in fact cherubim have four wings and seraphim have six wings, but not two wings. Not two wings there. And there is an interesting example that we can look at to verify that fact of how they appear, how they manifest themselves to people. Back in the book of Genesis chapter 18, three beings came to visit Abraham. And in verse two, it says, "Abraham lifted his eyes and looked, and behold, three men were standing by him; and when he saw them, he ran from the tent door to meet them, and bowed himself to the ground." Well, these were two angels with the Lord. We find that a little later in that passage, but how did they appear? As men. As men. A little later in verse 22, it says, "The men turned away from there and went toward Sodom, but Abraham still stood before the Lord."

So in reality, one of those men was the Lord and He stayed and continued to relate with Abraham. But how do we know those other two men were really angels? Well, the story continues in Genesis chapter 19, and do you know how that chapter begins? It says, "Now the two angels came to Sodom in the evening." And so obviously those men were angels. And of course, they go to Sodom. You remember the story of Sodom and Gomorrah. They came to Lot because they had a message for Lot. And so it's interesting when you look at how angels appear, how do they manifest themselves to us?

If we go to the New Testament we find a similar example. If we go to the time of the resurrection we find when the ladies came to the tomb and account of what an angel is like, how that angel appear. So in Mark chapter 16, it says, "When Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James and Salome came to the tomb," yeah, they found that stone already rolled back. And then what happened? Well they went in, "They entered the tomb," Scripture says, "and they saw a young man clothed in long white robe sitting on the right side." So here was a man, an angel, manifesting himself to these ladies. And the angel spoke to them. Verse six, says, "He said to them, 'Do not be alarmed. You seek Jesus of Nazareth, who was crucified. He is risen! He is not here. See the place where He laid. But go, tell His disciples and Peter that He is going before you into Galilee; there you will see him, as He said.'"

Of course, imagine the reaction of these ladies talking to an angel. It says, "They went out quickly and fled, and they trembled and were amazed.” They didn't say anything to anyone, because they were afraid. And to see an angel manifested as a young man right in front of you, what an amazing sight that must've been. And so we see a similarity of how they appear throughout Scripture. And so angels often serve as messengers.

In fact you may realize that the actual word in the original Hebrew and Greek it means messenger, an angel means messenger. That's the literal translation of that word. And it is always interesting to see what do they have to say. Well, we saw there in Mark, not a whole lot. Those messages are usually short, concise, and they give them and they're on their way or they disappear. And that's pretty consistent all the way throughout Scripture. They don't ramble on and on. They don't focus attention on themselves. They deliver God's message and they're gone.

Do you know God's message? Do you understand His purpose? Certainly would help you understand exactly what angels have to do with God's great plan. So order our free Bible study aid “Angels: God's Messengers and Spirit Army.”" You can do that by calling us with the number that's shown on your screen. We'll send you your own free copy of “Angels: God's Messengers and Spirit Army.” Or you can go to beyondtoday.tv and you can download it or read it right there online. Because what you'll find is that this study goes to the source. It goes to the Bible because the Bible really teaches what the spirit world is all about. What God's all about. The study aid will help you to understand that. I mean, do you have a clear picture? Well you can find out the true details about the spirit realm. And not only that, but it will help you to understand how you tie in to all of this. What's your future and what's your destiny?

So be sure to go to beyondtoday.tv and order your free copy of "Angels: God's Messengers and Spirit Army." What you will find throughout Scripture is the fact that not only are angels created as servants and messengers of God, but there's another part of an angel's job description that the Bible talks about as well. In fact, might be the most interesting aspect of jobs that they have. You know, what's more interesting than talking about the idea of having a guardian angel. I know over the years I've often been asked, "Does everyone have a guardian angel?" Well, most would probably be surprised to realize that nowhere in the Bible does it specifically say that every person has their own guardian angel, but it does show that angels do guard us and they do watch over us and they do protect us. Good example of this is found in Psalm 91, verse 11, there it tells us, "He shall give his angels charge over you to keep you in all your ways." And so angels are sent by God to protect us and watch over us and to help us. And in fact, had an interesting situation that happened with my mother. It happened on a cold Wisconsin day and my mom decided she was going to go to the store. My dad was gone and she had to take their old kind of rickety van to the store but she had to pick up a couple things. So Mom drives over to the grocery store and in the meantime, the sunsets, it starts to get dark and it starts to snow. While she gets back in the old van and she heads back for home. And of course, having a hard time seeing, she turned too fast around a corner and went right into giant snowbank and the tires were spinning and she couldn't get out and didn't have a phone, no help, frail, old lady having trouble. What she going to do? What she going to do? Well, she began to pray. And as she prayed, there was suddenly a knock on her window. And so she rolled down the window and here's this young guy standing at her window and he said, "You need some help." She said, "Yes, I sure do." And he kind of disappeared behind the van and she felt that van kind of rocking and it moved right out of the snowbank. She was just amazed and thrilled. And so she was digging for her purse to see if she could come up with a reward for this guy and as she rolled down her window to thank him, he said, "Well, there you go." And then he was gone, gone. Was he an angel? Well, may be, could very well be.

The Bible even relates the fact that oftentimes you might not even know that someone, a young man, that might be helping you could possibly be an angel. Now you probably remember some of those biblical stories about angels protection  and remember the story of Daniel in the lion's den? What was it that kept the lions from killing Daniel? Well, Daniel himself said, "My God sent his angel and shut the lion's mouth." Amazing! I mean, what an awesome story. But that can also bring some problems if we're not careful because angels do watch over us, they guard us, they protect us. Some people miss the point. Some people want to give angels way too much credit. Maybe it's because they like the idea of having their own little baby cherub or their little cupid or maybe even a powerful angel that will save them from danger. And so unfortunately some look to angels like they're their own personal genie and that's a problem. God is our helper, God is our sustainer. We need to call on God for help and depend on Him and know His word and understand His purpose. Because unfortunately, some almost have a near obsession or almost like a worship of angels. You know, you may know some people that collect angel figurines. I visited someone one time that had, must have had a thousand of them and to some becomes like an icon. Even some people pray to them. But never give credit to angels when the real credit for the miracles and answered prayer, that needs to go to God. Otherwise if we focus on an angel, it does become an idol and it stands in opposition to the true worship of God. And even throughout the Bible we recognize that was a problem that many people had.

Angel worship has been around for a long time. In fact in the book of Colossians it reminds us, "Let no one cheat you of your reward, taking delight in false humility and the worship of angels." Don't do it. Don't do it. In fact we're reminded the very end of the book in the book of Revelation, the Apostle John records an incident, a circumstance that came about. As he was receiving a message there was this angel before him and in chapter 19, verse 10 it tells us that John fell at his feet to worship him. Well, what did the angel do? Well a powerful angel of God, he said, "Don't do that." Don't do that. This angel said, "I'm a fellow servant of yours and your brethren who hold the testimony of Jesus. And the angel said, ‘Worship God." Well, that's what it's about. Don't ever worship angels. Yes, they're powerful. Yes, they're awesome. Yes, they're amazing in so many ways, but our faith, our love, our focus has to go to God and not to angels. And that's not all, there is another amazing aspect of an angel's job description.

Of course, if you're a Christian, we oftentimes hear the fact that we are in a spiritual battle. We're told that "we are warring not against flesh and blood,” but Ephesians tells us, "We're fighting evil rulers and authorities of the unseen world. And we're battling mighty powers in this dark world and against evil spirits." That's a great reminder that angels not only deliver God's messages, they not only protect and serve us, they also have another job, special job you might say, fighting evil, spiritual warfare. And we find throughout the Bible. We can read of great struggles between good and evil in the spirit realm. And many times angels travel in large armies in order to consolidate their strength when they're dealing and fighting against Satan's evil, demonic army. In fact, we can read an example of that in the book of Revelation. Revelation, chapter 12, verse seven reminds us of that very fact. It says, "War broke out in heaven," and this is a spiritual battle. It says, "Michael and his angels fought against the dragon and his angels fought, but they did not prevail nor was a place found for them in heaven any longer." And so see, we see the good angel, the angel Michael fighting for God, fighting for God's church, fighting for God's people. And in this case only Michael and his angels could help in this regard. And he was there. He was there fighting with the other angels to overcome evil, to overcome those spiritual demonic forces. In fact, we see different scenarios of that throughout the Bible.

You may remember at the crucifixion the disciples didn't really want them to take Christ, but what did Christ tell them when they pulled out a sword? He said, "Put your sword away, all who take the sword will perish by the sword." But then he said something very interesting he said, "Don't you think I can now pray to my Father, and he'll provide me with more than 12 legions of angels?" Spiritual army, a legion. That's 6,000 men in the Roman system. So Christ said, I could have 72,000 angels here just like that. And so you find over and over again, the Bible references them as a spiritual army. You've probably heard that term, heavenly hosts, sounds kind of spiritual. Really what that means, angel armies. Angel armies, and our God is called the Lord of Hosts. The Lord of Armies. Even refers to Christ as the commander of the Lord's army. And so it was very interesting to see those references throughout your Bible. I mean, a familiar one is probably the one in the situation with David and Goliath. We've all heard that story before, haven't we? Well, when David goes to face that giant, do you remember what he said? He said to the giant, "You come to me with a sword, a spear, and a javelin." David said, "I come to you in the name of the Lord of hosts, the God of the armies of Israel, whom you have defied." You see that was the amazing fact. God is a God of a spiritual army of hosts and there's so much to learn about angels.

We'd like to help you learn about them with our study aid "Angels: God's Messengers and Spirit Army." Call us at the number on your screen. We certainly want you to have this study aid so you can learn for yourself and discover what angels are all about and what is God's plan and purpose for them and, and you. So discover what it really says about the spirit world. So call us at the number on your screen, or go to our website beyondtoday.tv, there you can download it or read it for yourself right there online. So make sure and contact us so you can receive your free subscription to "Angels: God's Messengers and Spirit Army" because it'll certainly help you with the true answers, the right answers about the reality of the angelic world.

You don't want to go to Hollywood, don't go to some movie or look at a TV show for the answers. Those are fairytales. Those are phony stories. You’ve got to make sure and go to the only source of truth. That's the word of God. The Bible tells us angels are mighty spirit beings and they are created to serve God and serve you. And so it is a good thing to ask God, to give you the help that you need and protection that only he can give you through His angel. So pray for protection, ask God to open your mind to His truth and set His angels about you. Put your trust in God and remember angels serve Him, so should you.

[Narrator] Call now to receive the free booklet Angels: God's Messengers and Spirit Army." Is it okay to pray to angels? When and how do they appear to people? Do we each have a guardian angel? These and other questions are answered in our booklet "Angels: God's Messengers and Spirit Army." Order now, call toll free 1-888-886-8632, or write to the address shown in your screen. When you order this free studying, we'll also send you a complimentary one-year subscription to "Beyond Today Magazine." "Beyond Today Magazine" brings you understanding of today's world and hope for the future. Six times a year you'll read about current world events in light of Bible prophecy and godly principles to guide you toward a life that leads to peace. Call now to receive your free booklet, "Angels: God's Messengers and Spirit Army" and your free one-year subscription "Beyond Today Magazine." 1-888-886-8632 or go online to beyondtoday.tv.