As a pastor/minister who is nearing his 60th year of life (about four years from now), I am approaching the reality that one day I’m going to move from this container called “flesh” and be translated into the presence of the Lord. For some, that means an immediate transfer, for others they hold the translation that it will be after a period of “sleep” – but this is sure, my time on earth, in this form, in this body, will be done.
I’ve got a problem with angels. Because there is a false theology out there, and please hear me . . . There is no scriptural evidence . . . NONE . . . That even suggests that when a believer or any human being dies, that they are morphed into an angel. The Bible is too clear on the role of angels – messengers, primarily, and servants of the most High God who move and operate at His bidding.
The Scriptures are also crystal clear that humans/souls are completely different from Angels. According to Hebrews 2:7, humans/souls are made “a little lower” than the Angels. Angels don’t have souls like human beings do. Angels were never participants in the advent of Jesus . . . In other words, Jesus did not shed His blood at Calvary for both men and Angels. No, they are separately made beings.
Angels were created way before man came around and of course, one of their most famous, Lucifer, the Angelic chorus leader, was thrown out from Heaven along with one out of every three Angels who became renamed as demons.
My heart aches when I hear people refer to their loved ones as having died and “they got their wings.” No, there is no scriptural evidence that we get wings or we become remade into any such form. Matter of fact, the only indication of a transformation in Glory is that “we shall be like Him.” (1 John 3:2).
When I was a kid, on the old Looney Tunes cartoons, that actually was a popular explanation for children’s shows that when someone died or was killed, they became Angels. In fact, if a character died, they immediately got their wings and floated into Heaven. That might have passified and worked when I was a child, but now that I have become a man, I put away not only childish things, but childish theology.
It does a disservice to those who have gone on to lower the standard. In Glory, we shall be with the Lord forever and ever. In His glory, in magnificently made and designed bodies. Not in the costumes of an Angel, but in a body that will never decay nor age.
In the movie, Michael, starring John Travolta. An Angel came from Heaven, in human form with wings. He never said “I’m human” and in fact proudly said “I’m an Angel.” Even in that movie, the suggestion was never made to the humans he interacted with, “one day you’ll get your wings.”
When I’m gone from this life, comfort those who mourn by telling them simply, “He’s with the Lord.”
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