Angels in the Prophetic

7/27/2019 Angels in the Prophetic

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Prophetic-School Mini-Course Series

by

The Prophetic-School Leadership Core

Course 23

Angels Among Us

by Teresa Seputis

Class Materials:

1. Course Introduction2. Week 1 LessonIntroduction to Angels, Seraphim and Cherubim3. Week 2 LessonGleaning What The Bible Tells Us About Angels4. Week 3 LessonAngels And Jacob's Ladder5. Week 4 Lesson Angels Work With Us To Advance God's Kingdom6. Week 5 Lesson Some Tasks and Characteristics of Angels7. Week 6 LessonEnoch and His Interactions With Angels8. Week 7 LessonEnoch's Interations With Fallen Angels9. Week 8 LessonAngels and the Prophetic10.Week 9 LessonAngelic Visitations11.Week 10 LessonTeresa's Angel Stories **New (Mar 10, 2003)**

[This series is now complete]

TheProphetic-SchoolMini-Course Series is a series of sort courses (teaching anddiscussion) on topics relevant to learning to move in the prophetic. These courses areoffered by the Prophetic-Schoolleadership core.

This series is entitled Angels Among us. It is taught byTeresa SeputisIt beings

Monday, Jan 6, 2003 and will last for 10 weeks. A new teaching will be released onMonday of each week.

This site may "appear" to be "under construction." This is because the material willNOT be released to the WWW site until it has been emailed to the prophetic-schoollist. To subscribe to this list, send email [email protected]
http://godspeak.net/prophetic/ps_core.htmlhttp://godspeak.net/prophetic/ps_core.htmlmailto:[email protected]:[email protected]://godspeak.net/ps_lessons/ps23_intro.htmlhttp://godspeak.net/ps_lessons/ps23_intro.htmlhttp://godspeak.net/ps_lessons/ps23_week1.htmlhttp://godspeak.net/ps_lessons/ps23_week1.htmlhttp://godspeak.net/ps_lessons/ps23_week2.htmlhttp://godspeak.net/ps_lessons/ps23_week2.htmlhttp://godspeak.net/ps_lessons/ps23_week3.htmlhttp://godspeak.net/ps_lessons/ps23_week3.htmlhttp://godspeak.net/ps_lessons/ps23_week4.htmlhttp://godspeak.net/ps_lessons/ps23_week5.htmlhttp://godspeak.net/ps_lessons/ps23_week6.htmlhttp://godspeak.net/ps_lessons/ps23_week6.htmlhttp://godspeak.net/ps_lessons/ps23_week7.htmlhttp://godspeak.net/ps_lessons/ps23_week7.htmlhttp://godspeak.net/ps_lessons/ps23_week8.htmlhttp://godspeak.net/ps_lessons/ps23_week8.htmlhttp://godspeak.net/ps_lessons/ps23_week9.htmlhttp://godspeak.net/ps_lessons/ps23_week9.htmlhttp://godspeak.net/ps_lessons/ps23_week9.htmlhttp://godspeak.net/ps_lessons/ps23_week9.htmlhttp://godspeak.net/ps_lessons/ps23_week10.htmlhttp://godspeak.net/ps_lessons/ps23_week10.htmlhttp://godspeak.net/ps_lessons/ps23_week10.htmlhttp://godspeak.net/ps_lessons/ps23_week10.htmlhttp://godspeak.net/charters/ps_charter.htmlhttp://godspeak.net/charters/ps_charter.htmlhttp://godspeak.net/charters/ps_charter.htmlhttp://godspeak.net/prophetic/ps_core.htmlhttp://godspeak.net/prophetic/ps_core.htmlhttp://godspeak.net/prophetic/ps_core.htmlhttp://godspeak.net/prophetic/ps_core.html#TeresaSeputishttp://godspeak.net/prophetic/ps_core.html#TeresaSeputishttp://godspeak.net/prophetic/ps_core.html#TeresaSeputismailto:[email protected]:[email protected]:[email protected]:[email protected]://godspeak.net/prophetic/ps_core.html#TeresaSeputishttp://godspeak.net/prophetic/ps_core.htmlhttp://godspeak.net/charters/ps_charter.htmlhttp://godspeak.net/ps_lessons/ps23_week10.htmlhttp://godspeak.net/ps_lessons/ps23_week9.htmlhttp://godspeak.net/ps_lessons/ps23_week8.htmlhttp://godspeak.net/ps_lessons/ps23_week7.htmlhttp://godspeak.net/ps_lessons/ps23_week6.htmlhttp://godspeak.net/ps_lessons/ps23_week5.htmlhttp://godspeak.net/ps_lessons/ps23_week4.htmlhttp://godspeak.net/ps_lessons/ps23_week3.htmlhttp://godspeak.net/ps_lessons/ps23_week2.htmlhttp://godspeak.net/ps_lessons/ps23_week1.htmlhttp://godspeak.net/ps_lessons/ps23_intro.htmlmailto:[email protected]://godspeak.net/prophetic/ps_core.html


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Lesson 1

Introduction to Angels, Seraphim and Cherubim

By Teresa Seputis

Introduction

I never thought much about angels in my early days ofChristianity. They just were not a part of my everyday Christianlife. I knew the bible talked about angels, but I had never metone and I never expected to meet one. I knew they existed butthey were not a part of my life, so I did not think about them.

After I had been saved 3 or 4 years, I had a dream where I metwhat I think may have been a real angel. He did not have wings-- his appearance was very much like a man. He was cleaner andbrighter than your average person, and there was somethingabout his eyes that I cannot describe. His eyes were deeplypenetrating, but at the same time full of love. My whole beingwas filled with joy when He spoke to me, bringing me a

message from God. It was just a dream, but it seemed more realthan any dream I'd had before. When I woke up from thatdream, I knew that this person was an angel. I searched the biblefor some sort of precedence of angels bringing messages fromGod in a dream. To my surprise, I found that angels in the bibleactually did things like that... for instance the angel that spoke toJoseph, Jesus' step-father, spoke to Joseph and gave him

instructions in dreams.

That dream encounter got me intensely curious about angels.But back in the late 70s, there were not a whole lot of resourcebooks on the subject of angels. I eventually found one bookwritten by Billy Graham on angels. That was helpful but it did


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not satisfy my curiosity. I was frustrated for a long time andcried out to God to teach me more about His angels. But He didnot seem to answer my prayer. I finally gave up and stopped

asking. Little did I realize that it would be 20 to 25 years beforeHe was to answer that prayer.

I share my (above) story because I have discovered that angelsare a mystery to the average Christian. We know that they exist,that they are powerful spirit beings who serve God, but many ofus don't know much more about them. We may have a vagueidea that they are involved in certain types of activities. For

instance, angels seem to sometimes play a role in the prophetic.We know that some of the "big name" prophets have publiclyshared how they have gotten some of their prophetic stuff fromangels. So we realize that angels play some sort of role in theprophetic. But most of us don't really understand precisely whatrole angels play in that. In fact, most of us don't understand orknow very much about angels.

This teaching series is written to help people understand moreabout angels, the roles they play in our lives and how we canwork successfully with them. Most of these insights shared inthis series come directly from scripture. The bible is very rich ininformation about angels. Most of us have never really harvestedthat information, but there is quite a bit there about angels. Partof the teaching will be from personal experiences with angels

(mine and some other people's).

The series will focus on the various roles of angels. But angelsare not the only creatures that compose the heavenly hosts. Thebible talks a lot about angels. It also mentions two other types ofbeings: Seraphim and Cherubim. We will spend the next several


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lessons looking at angels. But let us first look briefly at theSeraphim and Cherubim.

Seraphim

These are six-winged beings who live in the presence of God.Their ministry appears to be before God's throne and they tendto hover (fly) around God and sing worship to Him. They seemto be closely tied to God's holiness. When they ministered toIsaiah, their ministry was in the area of forgiveness andpurification. Seraphim are only mentioned twice in the Bible,

both in Isaiah 6.Isaiah 6:1-7 says, "In the year King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord.He was sitting on a lofty throne, and the train of His robe filledthe Temple. Hovering around Him were mighty Seraphim, eachwith six wings. With two wings they covered their faces, withtwo they covered their feet, and with the remaining two theyflew. In a great chorus they sang, 'Holy, holy, holy is the Lord

Almighty! The whole earth is filled with His glory!' Theglorious singing shook the Temple to its foundations, and theentire sanctuary was filled with smoke. Then I said, 'Mydestruction is sealed, for I am a sinful man and a member of asinful race. Yet I have seen the King, the Lord Almighty!' Thenone of the Seraphim flew over to the altar, and he picked up aburning coal with a pair of tongs. He touched my lips with it andsaid, 'See, this coal has touched your lips. Now your guilt isremoved, and your sins are forgiven'" (NLT).

This is the only passage where we gain definitive insight aboutSeraphim. We do not have any indication from Isaiah 6 that theyever leave the heavenly realm and interact with man in our


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world. They may reside only in God's throne room. However, awords study of the original Hebrew indicates that God maysometimes send them out to bring judgment for unholiness.

The Hebrew word for Seraphim is "saraph" (pronounced saw-rawf', Strongs number 08314). It comes from the root wordmeaning "to burn." The same word (saraph) is translated twiceinto Seraphim (a transliteration of the original Hebrew wordsaraph) to refer to the majestic heavenly beings that hoveraround God's throne and sing of His holiness. However, thesame Hebrew word is translated as "fiery serpent" and is used in

reference to God bringing judgment against sin to the children ofIsrael (Num 21:6, Num 21:8, Is 30:6).

The passage in Numbers 21 is particularly interesting becausewhen the Children of Israel sinned by grumbling against God inthe wilderness, God responded by sending fiery serpents to bitethem. And everyone who was bitten died. The people realizedthis was a righteous judgment of God, so they repented of their

sin and asked for God to spare them. In response, God hadMoses make a bronze statue of a serpent and raise it on a highpole and those who looked at it after they were bitten werespared. Could the statue of the serpents being raised up besymbolic of the Seraphim flying and hovering over God'sthrone? Is it possible that this judgment (poisonous snakeskilling people) was the dispensed activity of the Holy Seraphim?

The same Hebrew word is used in both cases. If so then theSeraphim, which represent the holiness of God, may also beinvolved in executing the righteous judgments of God againstsin.


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The Hebrew word Saraph is also used in Isaiah 14:29, which isin a judgment passage against Philistia. The verse says, "Do notrejoice, all you of Philistia, because the rod that struck you is

broken; for out of the serpent's roots will come forth a viper, andits offspring will be a fiery flying serpent" (NKJV).

This is purely speculation on my part, but we see the word "fieryserpent" used in an evil way, arising out of a serpent. In thegarden of Eden, Satan choose the form of a serpent to appear toAdam and Eve. In other words, the "Saraph" of Is 14:29 may bedemonically influenced, and sent forth by Satan's direction as

part of his mission to kill, steal and destroy. (Of course, God isallowing this because He desires for judgment to come onPhilistia. We know that God sometimes uses Satan and hisdemons as an agent for executing that judgment.) The sameHebrew word for Seraphim is used to describe the heavenlycreatures and is used allegorically to describe demonic activity -- could it be that Satan and some of his demons were Seraphimbefore they fell? We know that Satan (a.k.a. Lucifer) is a fallenangel from Isaiah 14:14-15. Perhaps Satan used to be aSeraphim before he fell?

Cherubim

These are two winged angels that guard things (such as theentrance to the garden of Eden in Gen 3:24) and that usher in thepresence of God. Gold plated statues of Cherubim were on theark of the covenant. There are several references to God beingenthroned between the Cherubim, and it may be that theCherubim actually guard God's throne. Also, Cherubim aremajestic in appearance and not the cute chubby baby-facedbeings that medieval church artists made so popular.


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In the book of Ezekiel, Cherubim appeared to be on top of somesort of vehicle that had four wheels and the Cherubim inEzekiel's vision had four faces. But the statues of Cherubim on

the ark had no wheels and only one face. However, theCherubim carved on the temple walls had 2 faces (Ez 41:18).

There are 63 references to Cherubim in the NIV version of thebible, and 58 references in the New King James version. Onlyone of those references is in the New Testament (Heb 9:5). Themajority of the Old Testament references to Cherubim are fromEzekiel's vision (recorded in the book of Ezekiel) or in detailed

instructions for the tabernacle and temple decorations.

The word Cherubim comes from the Hebrew k'ruwb(pronounced ker-oob). K'ruwb is used 91 times in scripture withthe following meanings:

an heavenly being as guardians of Eden as flanking God's throne as an image form hovering over the Ark of the Covenant as the chariot of Jehovah (figuratively)

Most of the bible accounts of angels interacting with men werenot about the Cherubim. They seem to be strongly associatedwith God's presence, but do not appear to function in amessenger capacity.


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Lesson 2

Gleaning What The Bible Tells Us About Angels

By Teresa Seputis

This lesson is going to go into a lot of technical details to examine what the Bible saysabout angels. The lesson is meant to give a basis and foundation to build subsequentlessons on. Those of you who are not academically minded may find this lesson alittle on the dry side because it is the presentation of a lot of facts and details. So,please accept my apologies in advance if you find this lesson "dry." But hang in therewith this course, I suspect you will find the subsequent lessons more interesting.

The word angel in the old testament is the Hebrew word "mal'ak' {Strongs 04397,pronounced mal-awk}. It is derived from an unused root meaning to "dispatch as a

deputy." The Hebrew word mal'ak is used 111 times as "angel" and it is used 98 timesas "messenger" and it is used 4 times as "ambassador." The New Testament (e.g.,Greek) word for angel is "aggelos" {Strongs 32, pronounced ang-el-os}. It istranslated 179 in the New Testament times as "angel" -- however my Greek professorat Fuller Seminary told us that the word "angel" is not a translation, it is a"transliteration." E.g., instead of translating the word by meaning, they simply choosea word that sounds a lot like the original Greek pronunciation. The meaning of theGreek word aggelos is messenger. By the way, aggelos is actually translated as"messenger" seven times in the New Testament.

So, in short, when you hear the word "angel" think "heavenly messenger," and youwill be very close to the intended meaning.

Here are some statistics on the usage of Angel in the NKJV translation of the bible. Itis used in 108 verses in the Old Testament, and in 181 verses in the New Testament.(If you compare these numbers to the counts for the usage of Hebrew and Greekwords you will notice it is substantially less. That is because the many verses mentionthe word "angels" in them more than once in the same verse.) Angels are mentioned in39 verses in the writings of Moses (e.g., Genesis to Deuteronomy). There are 39verses in the Old Testament historical books that mention angels. There are 52 verses

in the gospels, 35 verses in the Epistles and 72 verses in the book of Revelation thatmention angels. In other words, the Bible talks about angels a lot!

Angels seem to perform many different types of tasks in the Bible. This is not anexhaustive list, but here are some of the tasks they perform:

Angels Bring Messages From God To Men Or Women


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Genesis 16:7-9, Genesis 19:15, Genesis 21:17, Genesis 22:11-14, Genesis

31:11, Exodus 3:2, Judges 2:1, Judges 2:4, Judges 6:11-12, Judges 6:20-22,

Judges 13:3-13, 2 Kings 1:3, 2 Kings 1:15, Zechariah 1:13, Zechariah 3:6-10,

Zechariah 4:1-7, Zechariah 5:5-11, Zechariah 6:4-5, Daniel 10:21, Daniel 8:15-

16, Matthew 1:20-24, Matthew 2:13, Matthew 2:19, Matthew 28:5, Luke 1:11-

19, Luke 1:26-38, Luke 2:10-15, Luke 2:21, Acts 7:30-35, Acts 7:38, Acts 7:53,

Acts 8:26, Acts 10:3-7, Acts 10:22, Acts 11:13, Acts 23:9, Acts 27:23, Galatians

3:19, Hebrews 2:2, Rev 1:1, Rev 5:2, Rev 22:16.

Angels Deliver Or Protect God's Elect

Genesis 48:16, Exodus 14:19, Exodus 23:23, Exodus 33:2, Numbers 20:16, 2

Kings 19:35, 2 Chronicles 32:21, Psalm 34:7, Psalm 35:5-6, Psalm 91:11-12,

Isaiah 37:36, Isaiah 63:9, Daniel 3:28, Daniel 6:22, Matthew 18:10, Matthew

26:53, Luke 4:10-11, Acts 5:19, Acts 10:7-10.

Angels Fight In Spiritual Battles Against Demonic Forces

Daniel 10:12-13, Jude 1:9, Revelation 12:7, Rev 20:1-3.

Angels Bring Warnings And Execute Judgments Form God

Numbers 20:16, Numbers 22:22-27, Judges 5:23, 2 Samuel 24:16-17, 1

Chronicles 21:12-27, 1 Chronicles 21:30, Psalm 78:49, Acts 12:23, Rev 7:1-2 ,

Rev 8:2 & 6-13, Rev 9:1, Rev 9:11-15, Revelation 14:8-10, Rev 18:1-3 & 21, Rev

19:1-2, Revelation 14:17-19, Rev 15:1 & 6-8, Rev 16:1-21, Rev 19:17-21.

Angels Represent God's Presence

Is 63:9, Zechariah 3:1-5, Matthew 16:27, Matthew 25:31, Matthew 28:2, Mark

8:38, Luke 2:9, Luke 9:26, Luke 12:8-9, John 1:51, Acts 6:15, 1 Thessalonians

4:16, 2 Thessalonians 1:7, 1 Timothy 5:21, Hebrews 12:22, Revelation 3:5.

Angels Worship God

Deuteronomy 32:43, Psalm 103:20, PS 148:2, Luke 2:13, Heb 1:4-13, Rev 5:11,

Rev 19:6-8, Rev 22:8-9.

Angels Minister To Individuals (such as feeding them, strengthening them)


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1 Kings 19:5-7, Psalm 104:4, Matthew 4:11, Mark 1:13, Luke 22:43, Heb 1:14,

Rev 1:20.

Angels Are Involved In The Prophetic

Genesis 16:10, Genesis 16:11, Genesis 22:15-18, Judges 13:3, 1 Kings 13:18,

Zechariah 1:9, Zechariah 1:14-19, Zechariah 3:6-10, Daniel 8:15-16, Daniel

9:21-27, Rev 10:1-11, Rev 12:1-14, Rev 17:1-18, Rev 21:9-17, Rev 22:6.

Angels Sometimes Visit And Observe Men

Genesis 19:1, Judges 13:13-21, 2 Chronicles 3:1, Luke 24:23, Hebrews 13:2.

Angels Are Sent To Provide Leading And Direction To Individuals

Genesis 24:40, Exodus 23:20, Exodus 32:34, Numbers 22:31-35.

Angels Gather Souls To Heaven And To The Judgment Seat Of Christ

Matthew 13:39-49, Matthew 24:31, Mark 13:27, Luke 16:22, John 20:12,

Revelation 14:14-16.

Angels Minister Physical Healing

John 5:4.

The Bible has a lot to say about angels. In fact, when Jesus walked on this earth, Hetalked about angels a lot. Angels are created beings who serve God.

At one point angels had free will (like we do now) and some of them choose to rebelagainst God. According to tradition, those who did not rebel after some period of timehave been transformed so that they are no longer capable of rebelling. We as humanservants of God look forward to the same type of transformation after we die (or afterChrist comes again and takes His own unto Himself). Right now we have free will,but at some point after our physical life on earth draws to a close, we will betransformed so much into His likeness that we will no longer have the option ofrebelling against God. Tradition is that then angels have already passed this point andhave already been transformed.

The Bible gives sketchy details of the fall of those angels who rebelled against God.We actually get some additional insights of this in the book of Enoch, which reads alot like the bible but is not considered authoritative scripture. And some of this comes


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down from Jewish tradition. I don't claim to be an expert on the fall of the devil andhis angels, but here is the "bird's eye view" of it.

Apparently Satan was called Lucifer (Is 14:12), and he was one of the angelic beingswho was involved in worshipping before God's throne. He somehow decided that he

wanted to receive worship instead of worshipping God and he fell. This is derivedfrom the passage in Is 14:12-21, which is technically talking about the human king ofBabylon but is widely considered to also prophetically be speaking about the fall ofSatan. Several other angels fell with Him. Tradition has it that 1/3 of the angels felland became demonic beings or demons. We will not focus on the demonic in thisteaching series but I felt it was important to share that there are two types of angels:fallen ones and ones that serve God.

The WebBible Encyclopedia (http://www.christiananswers.net/dictionary/home.html)shares some helpful information on demons. Here is what it says:

Demon (daemon) - The Greek form, translated "devil" in the King James Version of

the New Testament. Demons are spoken of as spiritual beings (Matt. 8:16; 10:1;

12:43-45) at enmity with God, and as having a certain power over man (James 2:19;

Rev. 16:14). They recognize our Lord as the Son of God (Matt. 8:20; Luke 4:41). They

belong to the number of those angels that "kept not their first estate," "unclean

spirits," "fallen angels," the angels of the devil (Matt. 25:41; Rev. 12:7-9). They are

the "principalities and powers" against which we must "wrestle" (Eph. 6:12).

The word demon(s) does not appear in the King James Bible, which uses the word"devils" instead. The New King James Bible uses the word "demon(s)" in 72 verses.

The only exorcist mentioned in the Old Testament is David (1 Samuel 16:23). In theNew Testament, both Jesus and his Apostles cast out demons through the power of theHoly Spirit. (Author: Paul S Taylor)

This teaching series will concentrate on the angels who did not fall but who willinglyserve and obey God.


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Lesson 3

Angels And Jacob's Ladder

By Teresa Seputis

The next two lessons are taken from a teaching that Randy Clark did on angels inBelem Brazil in Sept of 2002. As he spoke, God seemed to say to me, "Teresa, listento this." Since God thought the teaching was important, I took notes, writing as fast asI could and getting as much of Randy's teaching as I could take down in my notes.

Even though I am not the source of the content of these two lessons, I feel it is veryimportant material and I want to share it with you. So I have "fleshed out" my notesfrom Randy Clark's teaching on angels to present to you as lessons 3 and 4.

God has always intended for angels to co-labor with the church in furthering God'splans and advancing God's kingdom. God set a foundation for this way back inGenesis 28, when Jacob had a vision of a ladder ascending into Heaven. Let's look atthis from Genesis 28:10-15, and especially note verse 12:

10 Now Jacob went out from Beersheba and went toward Haran. 11So he came to a

certain place and stayed there all night, because the sun had set. And he took one of

the stones of that place and put it at his head, and he lay down in that place to sleep.

12Then he dreamed, and behold, a ladder was set up on the earth, and its top

reached to heaven; and there the angels of God were ascending and descending onit.

13And behold, the LORD stood above it and said: "I am the LORD God of Abrahamyour father and the God of Isaac; the land on which you lie I will give to you and yourdescendants. 14Also your descendants shall be as the dust of the earth; you shallspread abroad to the west and the east, to the north and the south; and in you and inyour seed all the families of the earth shall be blessed. 15Behold, I am with you andwill keep you wherever you go, and will bring you back to this land; for I will notleave you until I have done what I have spoken to you."

Note that the following verses, 16 to 22 show the impact that this encounter had onJacob. This divine visitation lead Jacob to a genuine conversion that actually changedhis behavior. The schemer and manipulator suddenly made a deep and seriouscommitment to God, including a commitment to tithe. Encounters with God areusually life changing, and Jacob's certainly was!


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This was a divine encounter where Jacob actually came directly into God's verypresence. And when God showed up, angels were also present. Did you notice theactivity of the angels in this encounter. According to verse 12, they were ascendingand descending the ladder that joined Heaven to earth. In short, God dispatched angelsfrom Heaven to earth to do His business, and when they completed their assignment,

they returned to Heaven (e.g, back to God's presence). Then He would send themdown again to do more of His work. The picture of angels ascending and descendingdenotes a lot of angelic activity taking place on earth. It establishes angelic activity inour realm.

Jesus enters into this picture way back in the time of Jacob. God, in this vision ordivine visitation, had spoken to Jacob. He made promises to him and told him ofthings to come. He talked about the vast number of future generations that wouldcome from Jacob to be the Jewish race, God's chosen people. Then He changed tensefrom plural to singular to talk about the "seed" (singular) that "all the families of theearth shall be blessed" by. This is a reference to Christ -- He is the one who descendedfrom Abraham, who laid down His life as a sacrifice for man's sin and then rose fromthe dead, forever conquering sin and death. He is the one who made it possible for allpeople, not just the Jews, to enter into a personal relationship with God. That was theblessing that Gen 28:14 was talking about -- Salvation and right relationship withGod.

And in the midst of this promise of the coming Savior, we see the angelic activity. Itwas God's plan to release both salvation and angelic activity (angels working togetherwith the church) on the face of the earth since way back to the time of Abraham andprobably before.

Now let's jump forward to the time of Jesus. Keep in mind the Gen 28:12 (the ladderwith angels ascending/descending) as we go to John 1:48-51:

48Nathanael said to Him, "How do You know me?"

Jesus answered and said to him, "Before Philip called you, when you were under thefig tree, I saw you."

49Nathanael answered and said to Him, "Rabbi, You are the Son of God! You are theKing of Israel!"

50Jesus answered and said to him, "Because I said to you, "I saw you under the figtree,' do you believe? You will see greater things than these." 51And He said to him,"Most assuredly, I say to you, hereafter you shall see heaven open, and the angels ofGod ascending and descending upon the Son of Man."


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Note the repetition of the theme from Genesis 28:12 -- again we see the heavensopening. Again we see angels ascending and descending. In other words, the "greaterthings" of John 1:51 than a prophetic word of knowledge (e.g., the operation of theprophetic) was the presence and activity of angels working with man. Let me developthis a little.

Angels ascending and descending from Heaven to earth paints a picture of angelsministering to and ministering with mankind. When Jesus walked on the earth, Hetook on human flesh.. He became a man. In fact, this was such a new thing to Him(being human) that He constantly referred to Himself as the "Son of man" in thegospels. Jesus had been God for all eternity, but He had only become a human beingfor maybe 30 years, it was new to Him, that is why He used the title "Son of man" somuch. The point here is that Jesus was human (fully a man as well as being fully God)when He walked the earth. And as a human we have records of the angels ministeringto Him.

Angels came and strengthened Jesus after He was temped in the wilderness, after Hehad fasted 40 days (Matthew 4:11). They came and strengthened Him again when Hewent out to the Mount of Olives to pray. He looked ahead to suffering and dieing onthe cross, knowing He would be tortured and beaten, knowing He would be separatedfrom His Heavenly Father while He bore the sins of all humanity. It was such anintense struggle for Him to look at all this and say "Not My will, but yours be done,"that He sweated drops of blood. He was in anguish (Luke 22:44). And in the midst ofall of this, Luke 22:43 tells us that an angel came and strengthened Him.

And when Jesus was arrested, one of the disciples drew his sword to defend Jesus.And Jesus told him, in Matt 26:52-52, "Put your sword in its place, for all who takethe sword will perish by the sword. Or do you think that I cannot now pray to MyFather, and He will provide Me with more than twelve legions of angels? How thencould the Scriptures be fulfilled, that it must happen thus?" This shows that Jesus hadaccess to the heavenly resources of angels, and could call on them any time Hewanted to, but it also shows that He would only call on them when their activitywould be used to carry out God the Father's will.

So now back to the passage in John 1 where Nathanael espouses that Jesus is theChrist. In John 1:47-48, Jesus operated in the prophetic and in word of knowledge.That, in and of itself, was enough to convince Nathanael of His Lordship. But Jesusdoes not simply accept the situation. Instead He said that (verses 50-51) that we willsee God do more than just release the prophetic on His church. The "greater things"that we will see is the ministry of angels working with us (Heavens opening andangels ascending and descending). In other words, Jesus' coming to earth, His death


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and resurrection not only opened a way for us to be saved, it also opened the doors forthe angelic to come and co-labor with us in spreading God's kingdom.

We will develop this more in our next lesson.


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Lesson 4

Angels Work With Us To Advance God's Kingdom

By Teresa Seputis

Lessons 3 and 4 are developed from a teaching Randy Clark did in Belem Brazil onangels in September of 2002. Lesson 3 explored the tie between Jacob's vision of theladder to Heaven with angelic activity and the first coming of Christ. We saw thatangels ministered to and with Jesus multiple times as He walked on the earth.

Jesus said in John 14:12 that we, as His believers, would do the same things He haddone. So if Jesus worked with the angels, it stands to reason that His disciples wouldalso work with angels. And scripture bares this out. Let me share a few examplesreally quickly. The apostles were arrested in Acts 5:17-20, and an angel was sent to

open the doors to jail and bring them out -- e.g., to rescue them. Then in Acts 12:5-11Peter is arrested and sentenced to be executed. The church prayed for him and Godsent an angel to rescue him from prison. In Acts 27:23-27, Paul talked to an angel justbefore he was shipwrecked and received a promise from God that no one woulddrown in the shipwreck.

What about today? Those of us who believe in Jesus today are also covered by John14:12 -- we are promised that if we believe in Jesus, we will do the same works Jesusdid. So if Jesus worked with angels when He was on the earth, it follows that we willalso work with angels. Heb 1:14 bears that out, indicating that angels serve with

members of the church. The apostle Paul was talking about angels and he said, "Arethey not all ministering spirits sent forth to minister for those who will inheritsalvation?" (NKJV).

Back to Jacob's vision of the ladder in Genesis 28:12. In that vision, Jesus is theladder, the one who creates the open Heaven. It is through what Jesus did on the crossthat God can send angels to work with the church to advance God's kingdom and todo His will.

Jesus accomplished a lot for us in His death and resurrection:

forgiveness of sin eternal life adoption into God's family physical healing freedom from demonic oppression God's power in our lives


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But that is not all that He accomplished on the cross. To get all of the benefits of thecross, we also get the benefit of angels working with us.

Let's develop that a little. Because God is God, He can do anything He wants any wayHe wants. Wouldn't you agree? And the message of salvation is very important to

God, it is the whole reason Jesus came to earth, walked among men, suffered and diedand then rose from the dead. Jesus paid a very high price for our salvation. He couldhave used any means He wanted to to get the message out. He could have appeareddivinely to men from heaven and told them of the good news. He could have spokento all unsaved people in dreams. But instead He choose to entrust the message ofsalvation to the Church. It is our job to share the good news of what Jesus did withother people. If we don't tell them, no one will. God has shown a willingness to takeimportant kingdom business and trust the execution of it to His creation. He doesn't doeverything Himself, He chooses to work through His creation.

In a similar manner, angels are also God's creation and He also chooses to workthrough them. One of the ways God choose to use angels is in physical healing. Wefind an example of this in John 5:4, which says, "For an angel went down at a certaintime into the pool and stirred up the water; then whoever stepped in first, after thestirring of the water, was made well of whatever disease he had."

Isn't that interesting? God uses angels in healing the sick. Now, healing is animportant part of the gospel. It is one of the elements in the gospel message ofMatthew 10:8 and of the Great Commission of Mark 16:15-18. The gospel has twoparts to it.. we share the good news of what Jesus did to restore man to God and wedemonstrate God's power to back up the message we share. And physical healing isone of the primary ways that we demonstrate the reality of God's power.

Rev 14:6 says something that is almost alarming on first glance. It says, "Then I sawanother angel flying in the midst of heaven, having the everlasting gospel to preach tothose who dwell on the earth--to every nation, tribe, tongue, and people."

Rev 14:6 says that some angels have been given the gospel to share. But we know thatthe great commission of sharing the good news fell to man, not to angels. We see theangel appear to Cornelius in Acts 10. The angel does not share the gospel but rather

instructs Cornelius to send for Peter so he can hear the gospel. So we see the angelsare careful not to speak the message of salvation, that task falls to men. And yet Rev14:6 says that the angels have been given the gospel. That almost sounds like acontradiction at first. But it is not. You see, healing is a part of the gospel. It is not thespeaking of the message of the gospel, but it is the demonstration of God's power toback up the message of salvation. And we see in John 5:4 that angels are used in


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physical healing. The way that angels are involved in spreading the gospel is that theywork together with man to spread the gospel by providing supernatural healings.

Think of it this way: we know that the church is the army of God because the Bibletells us that. The angels are the air force. The army is the one that goes out on the

offensive and takes the territory. But it is much easier for the army to win the battlewhen they have air support from the air force. Likewise, it is much easier for us to beeffective in spreading the gospel when angels show up and help with the physicalhealings.

Angels and F ir e

The Bible associates angels with fire in many places. One of them is Heb 1:7, whichsays, "In speaking of the angels He says, 'He makes His angels winds, His servantsflames of fire'" (NIV). This is quoting Ps 104:4.

Now look at Acts 2:1-4:

When the Day of Pentecost had fully come, they were all with one accord in one

place. And suddenly there came a sound from heaven, as of a rushing mighty wind,

and it filled the whole house where they were sitting. Then there appeared to them

divided tongues, as of fire, and one sat upon each of them. And they were all filled

with the Holy Spirit and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them

utterance.

We know the Holy Spirit came at Pentecost, because Jesus told His disciples to waitfor the Holy Spirit and power from on high before going out to spread the gospel(Acts 1:4-5). But what are the mighty wind and the tongues of fire? Heb 1:7 and Ps104:4 say that angels are "winds" and "flames of fire." Could the mighty rushing windand the tongues of fire in Acts 2 be the presence of angels released to co-labor withthe church? Might it be that we not only got the Holy Spirit at Pentecost, we also got arelease of angelic on the church?

Healing evangelists like Randy Clark and Benny Hinn tell us that when angels showup at a meeting, the anointing on that meeting increases. The more angels that come toa meeting, the more power there is in that meeting. And we know that worship of Godis what attracts angels to a meeting. The angels are around God's throne worshippingHim. Worship ushers in God's presence because God dwells in the worship of Hispeople (Ps 22:3). And we know that angels carry and accompany the presence of God.That is why powerful worship is such an important part of the service for healing


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evangelists. They want to usher in God's presence and they want to usher in thepresence of angels to co-labor with us in the area of physical healings.

John The Baptist talked a lot about Jesus before Jesus started His public ministry. Hesaid something very interesting about Him in Luke 3:16, "I indeed baptize you with

water; but One mightier than I is coming, whose sandal strap I am not worthy to loose.He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire."

Could the "and fire" be the presence of angels? In other words, does Jesus give us theHoly Spirit and also command His angels to come minister with us like fire? Weknow that God does a lot of important things through angels, and that angelssometimes appear in the form of fire. For instance, Exodus 3:3 tells us that it was anangel who spoke to Moses in the burning bush, not God. The angel spoke for God andMoses reacted as if he was speaking directly to God.. but God was actually speakingto Moses through an angel. And the form the angel took was indeed fire.. a bush that

burned and was never consumed.

It seems to be a reasonable conclusion that God expects His Church to work withangels to be effective. If that is the case, then we need to learn how to work withthem. Obviously we must make a place for them to co-labor with us. At the sametime, we must not get wrapped up in angels and put our focus and our attention onthem.

Rev 19:10 makes it very clear that we are not to worship angels or overly elevatethem. John writes, "And I fell at his feet to worship him (the angel who had been

speaking to John). But he said to me, 'See that you do not do that! I am your fellowservant, and of your brethren who have the testimony of Jesus. Worship God!'"

We should respect angels and cooperate with them. But we should not give an angelmore honor than or respect than we would give another anointed human minister.


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Lesson 5

Some Tasks and Characteristics of Angels

By Teresa Seputis

When we think about angels, we tend to think of the most obvious things about them,things we have learned from the Bible. For instance, we might think of angels asGod's messengers, such as Gabriel announcing to Mary that she would give birth tothe Christ or the angels announcing Christ's birth to the shepherds. Or we may thinkof the protection and guardian role that angels play in watching over God's elect --Psalm 91:11-12 says, "For He shall give His angels charge over you, to keep you inall your ways. In their hands they shall bear you up, Lest you dash your foot against astone." Or we may think of angels' role in bringing forth the Judgments of God; suchas the Angel Of Death who slew all of the firstborn sons of the Egyptians, Or the

angel who brought a plague to Israel when David sinned and numbered the people(from 1 Chronicles 21). Or we might think of the mighty warrior angels who areengaged in spiritual warfare against Satan's forces, such as Michael and Gabrielfighting the prince of the kingdom of Persia (Daniel 10). Or we might think of theangels in God's presence worshipping and praising Him before His throne (Rev 19:6-8).

And all of these are correct and valid things to think about angels. The Bible describeseach of them. But the Bible has much more to say about angels than just those fiveactivities. Angels have some tasks and characteristics that may surprise you. Let's

look at some of them.

Did you know that angels are involved in gathering souls after a person dies? Therighteous are taken up into Heaven by angels and the unrighteous are taken before thejudgment seat of Christ. In Luke 20:12, Jesus describes the angels as taking the poorbeggar to Heaven when he died. Matthew 24:31 and Mark 13:27 both talk about theangels gathering the elect from the four corners of the earth and taking them to theLord's presence. Matthew 13:39-49 describes the angels gathering people to Christ'sthrone in the last day. Revelation 14:14-16 describes the angels gathering the end timeharvest of souls. John 20:12 describes how angels watched over Christ's body in the

tomb. We see, from these verses, that angels play a role in escorting souls when theydie (or when Christ returns) -- they seem to escort both the saved and the unsaved totheir proper destination.

Angels don't just minister to mankind, they also minister to other angels. For instance,we see God using one angel to send a message to another angel who was currently "onthe job" giving a message to a prophet. Zechariah 1:2-5 states: "Then the angel who


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was speaking to me left, and another angel came to meet him and said to him: 'Run,tell that young man, "Jerusalem will be a city without walls because of the greatnumber of men and livestock in it. And I myself will be a wall of fire around it,"declares the LORD , "and I will be its glory within"'" (NIV).

And angels minister to mankind in ways you may not have expected. For instance,angels assist in evangelism. We see this activity when an angel appears to unsavedCornelius in Acts 10:1-6 and instructed him to send for Simon Peter in Joppa because"He will tell you what you must do." And, of course what Simon Peter told him to dowas to receive Christ (Acts 10:44-47). Also, Rev 14:6 says, "Then I saw another angelflying in the midst of Heaven, having the everlasting gospel to preach to those whodwell on the earth--to every nation, tribe, tongue, and people" (NKJV).

Did you know that angels actually pray for us and they are involved in God hearingand answering our prayers? Just as we pray and intercede for each other, angels

sometimes pray and intercede for us. We have an example of this in Zechariah 1:12.An angel has been talking to Zechariah about some prophetic things. Suddenly theangel broke into prayer for God to restore Jerusalem and the cities of Judah. The versesays, "Then the Angel of the LORD answered and said, 'O LORD of hosts, how longwill You not have mercy on Jerusalem and on the cities of Judah, against which Youwere angry these seventy years?'" (NKVJ). And Rev 8:3-5 describes angels beinginvolved in our prayers and bringing them before the Lord.

In fact, angels appear to pay attention to what goes on in the earth and they take greatinterest in the activities of man. Zechariah 1:8-11 describes angels going through theearth and observing the state of affairs on it. Luke 15:10 tells us that the angels rejoicewhen a person is saved. 1 Cor 4:9 informs us that the angels observed life andactivities of the apostles. 1 Timothy 3:16 tells us that the angels watched and observedJesus' life when He walked on the earth as a man. And 1 Peter 1:12 tells us that theangels watch the spread of the gospel with interest and desire. In fact, angels and theheavenly host may very well be part of that great "cloud of witnesses" mentioned inHebrews 1:12 that watch the activity of each believer as we serve the Lord. AndDaniel, when interpreting King Nebuchadnezzar's dream in Dan 4:23 described anangel as "a watcher, a holy one, coming down from heaven." So clearly a part ofangels' activities include watching and observing what goes on in men's lives on thisearth.

Angels are also involved in physical healing. We developed this in some detail inlessons 3 and 4. John 5:4 shows angelic activity for physical healing: "For an angelwent down at a certain time into the pool and stirred up the water; then whoeverstepped in first, after the stirring of the water, was made well of whatever disease hehad" (NKJV). The New International Version (NIV) translation omits this verse, but it


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is present in most translations, including the King James (KJV) or New King James(NKJV) or New American Standard Bible (NASB) or the Amplified Bible (AMP) orthe English Standard Version (ESV) or the Contemporary English Version (CEV) orthe 21st Century King James Version (KJ21) or the American Standard Version(ASV) or the Worldwide English New Testament (WE) or the Young's Literal

Translation (YLT) or the Darby Translation (DARBY). In fact, we see that the NIVversion seems to leave out a lot of the power of God type of verses related to healingand deliverance. It also omits Matthew 17:21 and omits the phrase "and fasting" fromMark 9:29.

The Bible tells us about some of the characteristics of angels:

Angels are powerful (2 Peter 2:11) Angels possess wisdom (2 Samuel 14:20) angels take on the physical form of fire and wind (Psalm 104:4) angels do not marry (Matthew 22:30 and Mark 12:25) Angels do not know everything (Matthew 24:36 and Mark 13:32) Angels don't die (Luke 20:36) Angels are subject to Jesus (1 Peter 3:22)

And here are some more miscellaneous details the Bible tells us about angels:

Angels eat Manna for food (Psalm 78:25) Angels have their own language (1 Corinthians 13:1) Angels travel between Heaven and Earth (Genesis 28:12) Angels will one day be judged by believers (1 Corinthians 6:3) Angels will not rule the "world to come" (Hebrews 2:5)

This is not an exhaustive list of what the Bible has to say about angels. But it beginsto give you a little insight into the realm, characteristics and activities of angels.


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Lesson 5

Enoch and His Interactions With Angels

By Teresa Seputis

Gleanings From the Book Of Enoch

The bible mentions Enoch in Genesis 5:18-24 as a man who pleased God and thenGod took him up to heaven without his physically dieing. The only other person tohave that experience (being taken to Heaven without dieing) is the prophet Elijah (2Kings 2:11). Enoch lived on the earth for 365 years before God took him to heavenwithout dieing. That was a relatively short time span in those days, because peopletended to live 800 to 900 years. Enoch going to heaven at 365 years would be roughlyequivalent (these days where people live to be 80 to 85) of God taking him to Heaven

when he was only 35!

Why did God take Enoch to heaven without waiting for him to die first? Heb 11:5comments on this, saying, "By faith Enoch was taken away so that he did not seedeath, 'and was not found, because God had taken him'; for before he was taken hehad this testimony, that he pleased God" (NKJV).

Enoch wrote several books when he was alive on the earth. These are not consideredas a part of the Bible, and His writings cannot be looked upon with the same authorityof Scripture. But his writings are very insightful and they tend to agree closely with

scripture in a lot of areas. And there is something in the New Testament that showsthe believers considered the writings of Enoch to be authoritative, because Jude 1:14-15 references writings from the book of Enoch. It says, "Now Enoch, the seventh fromAdam, prophesied about these men also, saying, 'Behold, the Lord comes with tenthousands of His saints, to execute judgment on all, to convict all who are ungodlyamong them of all their ungodly deeds which they have committed in an ungodlyway, and of all the harsh things which ungodly sinners have spoken against Him"(NKJV).

However, we cannot give the book of Enoch the same type of authority we give the

Bible. There are some questions as to whether the scrolls that constitute the book ofEnoch were really written by Enoch of if they were "forgeries" written by first centurybelievers.

The book of Enoch reads a lot like the Bible. It is highly prophetic and there arepassages in there that track very closely with things that are in the Bible. For instance,the Book of Enoch Chapter 46:1-2 gives a vision of God the Father that looks very


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similar to John's vision of Jesus in the book of Revelation, and a description of whatsounds like Jesus standing next to Him: "There I beheld the Ancient of days whosehead was like white wool, and with Him another, whose countenance resembled thatof a man. His countenance was full of grace, like that of one of the holy angels. Then Iinquired of one of the angels, who went with me, and who showed me every secret

thing, concerning this Son of man; who he was; whence he was; and why heaccompanied the Ancient of days. He answered and said to me, This is the Son ofman, to whom righteousness belongs; with whom righteousness has dwelt; and whowill reveal all the treasures of that which is concealed: for the Lord of spirits haschosen him; and his portion has surpassed all before the Lord of spirits in everlastinguprightness."

Here are some of the things we learn about Enoch from the Book of Enoch:

Enoch was a prophet and had many visions. Enoch had his first vision when he was a youth (when he was learning to write

before he was married).

Enoch interacted directly with angels on many occasions. The rebellious angels approached Enoch and asked him to intercede on their

behalf, and he did, earnestly. God denied their petition, but Enoch did

intercede for them.

Enoch was an intercessor and he entered in to intercession when he learnedthat God was going to send a flood to destroy humanity. He prayed for God to

spare a remnant and not destroy all of mankind. God responded by sparing his

great-Grandson (Noah) and his descendents. Because of Enoch's holiness and relationship with God, his son was blessed to

be the longest living human being and God held back the flood judgment until

after his son died naturally.

Enoch lived apart from his family in the valley of the righteous for a prolongedtime and had many supernatural encounters with God and with angels.

Enoch was sent back for a year to his family to instruct them in what God hadshown them. (I am guessing that maybe he wrote his book during that time??)

Enoch had a clear and accurate revelation of many events significant in churchhistory, including God delivering the children of Israel from Egypt, the partingof the Red Sea, the coming of the Son of Man (Jesus), and that all humanity

would appear before the judgment seat of Christ.

Noah (Enoch's great grandson) consulted with Enoch when God commissionedhim to build the ark. Enoch helped Noah to understand God's plans and

commission.


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Enoch provides specific details on the fall of the angels who came down tomarry the daughters of men, and on those angels who taught wicked things

(occult practices, etc) to the children of man.

Enoch's Interactions With Unfallen Angels

Enoch interacted frequently with angels. He talks about angels as messengers whoteach and instruct him about God's plans as early as verse two of his first book. Hesays, "Enoch a righteous man, whose eyes were opened by God, saw the vision of theHoly One in the heavens, which the angels showed me, and from them I heardeverything, and from them I understood as I saw, but not for this generation, but for aremote one which is for to come..." He then proceeds with a vision that is similar tosome of what the Apostle John described in the book of Revelation.

He also talked about the angels looking at the decline of humanity (Chapter 9) withconcern and they brought their concerns before God and discussed it with Him, whichled to God destroying the earth by the flood and sparing only Noah and his family.Enoch seemed to be on a first name basis with many of the angels, and he shared thenames of some of the "watchers" who were concerned about humanity's decline intodepravity in Chapter 9, verse 1: "Michael, Uriel, Raphael, and Gabriel." Enoch againmentions angels as holy watchers in Chapter 20. It says: "And these are the names ofthe holy angels who watch. Uriel, one of the holy angels, who is over the world andover Tartarus. Raphael, one of the holy angels, who is over the spirits of men. Raguel,one of the holy angels who takes vengeance on the world of the luminaries. Michael,

one of the holy angels, to wit, he that is set over the best part of mankind and overchaos. Saraqael, one of the holy angels, who is set over the spirits, who sin in thespirit. Gabriel, one of the holy angels, who is over Paradise and the serpents and theCherubim. Remiel, one of the holy angels, whom God set over those who rise."

In Chapter 17, verses 1 and 2, Enoch described angels' natural appearance as a flameof fire, but they could take on the appearance of man any time they wished. In otherwords, in their natural state, angels exist as what looks like fire, but they often chooseto take on human appearance when they interact with men. Enoch chapter 18 refers toangels as "columns of fire" multiple times. In Chapter 14, Enoch sees cherubim in a

vision. He describes them as, "And I went in till I drew nigh to a wall which is built ofcrystals and surrounded by tongues of fire: and it began to affright me. And I wentinto the tongues of fire and drew nigh to a large house which was built of crystals: andthe walls of the house were like a tessellated floor (made) of crystals, and itsgroundwork was of crystal. Its ceiling was like the path of the stars and the lightnings,and between them were fiery cherubim, and their heaven was (clear as) water. A


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flaming fire surrounded the walls, and its portals blazed with fire. And I entered intothat house, and it was hot as fire and cold as ice (verses 9-13).

The vision of cherubim before God's throne continues in chapter 14 verses 16 to 24.Note that the cherubim are directly in God's presence but the "regular angels" could

not approach directly into God's glory.

And in every respect it so excelled in splendour and magnificence and extent that I

cannot describe to you its splendour and its extent. And its floor was of fire, and

above it were lightnings and the path of the stars, and its ceiling also was flaming

fire. And I looked and saw therein a lofty throne: its appearance was as crystal, and

the wheels thereof as the shining sun, and there was the vision of cherubim. And

from underneath the throne came streams of flaming fire so that I could not look

thereon. And the Great Glory sat thereon, and His raiment shone more brightly thanthe sun and was whiter than any snow. None of the angels could enter and could

behold His face by reason of the magnificence and glory and no flesh could behold

Him. The flaming fire was round about Him, and a great fire stood before Him, and

none around could draw nigh Him: ten thousand times ten thousand (stood) before

Him, yet He needed no counselor. And the most holy ones who were nigh to Him did

not leave by night nor depart from Him.

Enoch chapter 18, verses 1-6 describes the angels as winds that God furnishes to His

whole creation. These wind-like angels help keep the planets and stars in orbit and

they help keep earth separated from the heavenlies. With a little stretch of

imagination, Enoch may be saying that the "force" of gravity may actually be the

ministry of certain angels tasked to hold God's creation in order.

There is much more that Enoch had to say about angels. You can read the Book ofEnoch if you are interested.

Our next lesson will look at Enoch's insights and interactions with the angels who,

according to Genesis 6:1-2 says, "When men began to increase in number on the earthand daughters were born to them, the sons of God [Angels] saw that the daughters ofmen were beautiful, and they married any of them they chose."


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Lesson 7

Enoch's Interations With Fallen Angels

By Teresa Seputis

In our last lesson we discussed that Enoch was a godly man who pleased God so muchthat God took him to Heaven without dieing. There are some books that were reportedto be written by Enoch. These books are not considered as a part of the Bible, they arenot to be treated as authoritative. We do not know if they are divinely inspired, theword of God.

However, the writings in these books does seem to track closely with the Bible in a lotof areas. When you read the writings of Enoch you will feel a lot like you are readingScripture, because much of the content matches things that are in the Bible.

The book of Enoch also contains several details that are not recorded anywhere else inScripture, including details about angels. These must be taken as secular writingsabout angels from a person who had many experiences and interactions with them.The writings of Enoch must not be taken as a part of the Bible and we must not assignthat type of credibility to them. But they do provide some interesting insights aboutangels and that is why I am sharing them in this teaching series.

Enoch' s Description Of The Fall Of Angels

Chapter 19 verses 1-3 expand on an incident mentioned in Genesis 6:1-2. It says:"And Uriel said to me: 'Here shall stand the angels who have connected themselveswith women, and their spirits assuming many different forms are defiling mankindand shall lead them astray into sacrificing to demons as gods , (here shall they stand,)till the day of the great judgment in which they shall be judged till they are made anend of. And the women also of the angels who went astray shall become sirens.' AndI, Enoch, alone saw the vision, the ends of all things: and no man shall see as I haveseen."

He expands on this quite a bit more in Chapters 6 to 8, where Enoch says,

And it came to pass when the children of men had multiplied that in those days were

born unto them beautiful and comely daughters. And the angels, the children of the

heaven, saw and lusted after them, and said to one another: 'Come, let us choose us

wives from among the children of men and beget us children.' And Semjaza, who

was their leader, said unto them: 'I fear ye will not indeed agree to do this deed, and


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I alone shall have to pay the penalty of a great sin.' And they all answered him and

said: 'Let us all swear an oath, and all bind ourselves by mutual imprecations not to

abandon this plan but to do this thing.' Then sware they all together and bound

themselves by mutual imprecations upon it. And they were in all two hundred; who

descended in the days of Jared on the summit of Mount Hermon, and they called it

Mount Hermon, because they had sworn and bound themselves by mutual

imprecations upon it. And these are the names of their leaders: Samlazaz, their

leader, Araklba, Rameel, Kokablel, Tamlel, Ramlel, Danel, Ezeqeel, Baraqijal, Asael,

Armaros, Batarel, Ananel, Zaq1el, Samsapeel, Satarel, Turel, Jomjael, Sariel. These

are their chiefs of tens.

And all the others together with them took unto themselves wives, and each chose for

himself one, and they began to go in unto them and to defile themselves with them,and they taught them charms and enchantments, and the cutting of roots, and madethem acquainted with plants. And they became pregnant, and they bare great giants,whose height was three thousand ells: Who consumed all the acquisitions of men. Andwhen men could no longer sustain them, the giants turned against them and devouredmankind. And they began to sin against birds, and beasts, and reptiles, and fish, and todevour one another's flesh, and drink the blood. Then the earth laid accusation againstthe lawless ones.

And Azazel taught men to make swords, and knives, and shields, and breastplates, and

made known to them the metals of the earth and the art of working them, andbracelets, and ornaments, and the use of antimony, and the beautifying of the eyelids,and all kinds of costly stones, and all colouring tinctures. And there arose muchgodlessness, and they committed fornication, and they were led astray, and becamecorrupt in all their ways. Semjaza taught enchantments, and root-cuttings, 'Armarosthe resolving of enchantments, Baraqijal (taught) astrology, Kokabel theconstellations, Ezeqeel the knowledge of the clouds, Araqiel the signs of the earth,Shamsiel the signs of the sun, and Sariel the course of the moon. And as menperished, they cried, and their cry went up to heaven . . .

This stuff was apparently going on during Enoch's lifetime. He came to the fallenangels who had married human wives in Chapter 13 and prophetically pronounced ajudgment of God on them. The angels became afraid when they heard the judgmentand they asked Enoch to intercede on their behalf. Enoch chapter 13, verses 3-7describe this incident,


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Then I went and spoke to them all together, and they were all afraid, and fear and

trembling seized them. And they besought me to draw up a petition for them that

they might find forgiveness, and to read their petition in the presence of the Lord of

heaven. For from thenceforward they could not speak (with Him) nor lift up their

eyes to heaven for shame of their sins for which they had been condemned. Then I

wrote out their petition, and the prayer in regard to their spirits and their deeds

individually and in regard to their requests that they should have forgiveness and

length. And I went off and sat down at the waters of Dan, in the land of Dan, to the

south of the west of Hermon: I read their petition till I fell asleep.

When Enoch is asleep, God meets him in a vision and denied the petition of the fallenangels -- He refused to forgive them for their sins or to restore them to fellowship withGod. Instead He gave Enoch a lengthy reprimand to deliver back to these fallen angelsin chapters 14 and 15.

Here are some portions of that rebuke

"Your petition will not be granted unto you throughout all the days of eternity, and

that judgment has been finally passed upon you: yea (your petition) will not be

granted unto you. And from henceforth you shall not ascend into heaven unto all

eternity, and in bonds of the earth the decree has gone forth to bind you for all the

days of the world. And (that) previously you shall have seen the destruction of your

beloved sons and ye shall have no pleasure in them, but they shall fall before you by

the sword. And your petition on their behalf shall not be granted, nor yet on your

own: even though you weep and pray."

Say to the Watchers of heaven, who have sent thee to intercede for them: "You shouldintercede" for men, and not men for you: Wherefore have ye left the high, holy, andeternal heaven, and lain with women, and defiled yourselves with the daughters ofmen and taken to yourselves wives, and done like the children of earth, and begottengiants (as your) sons? And though ye were holy, spiritual, living the eternal life, you

have defiled yourselves with the blood of women, and have begotten (children) withthe blood of flesh, and, as the children of men, have lusted after flesh and blood asthose also do who die and perish.

Therefore have I given them wives also that they might impregnate them, and begetchildren by them, that thus nothing might be wanting to them on earth. But you wereformerly spiritual, living the eternal life, and immortal for all generations of the world.


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And therefore I have not appointed wives for you; for as for the spiritual ones of theheaven, in heaven is their dwelling."

"You have been in heaven, but all the mysteries had not yet been revealed to you, andyou knew worthless ones, and these in the hardness of your hearts you have made

known to the women, and through these mysteries women and men work much evilon earth. You have no peace."

Enoch had multiple visions of hell, where the fallen angels were to one day beimprisoned. Chapter 18 verses 12b - 16 describes one of them, "And beyond thatabyss I saw a place which had no firmament of the heaven above, and no firmlyfounded earth beneath it: there was no water upon it, and no birds, but it was a wasteand horrible place. I saw there seven stars like great burning mountains, and to me,when I inquired regarding them, The angel said: 'This place is the end of heaven andearth: this has become a prison for the stars and the host of heaven. And the stars

which roll over the fire are they which have transgressed the commandment of theLord in the beginning of their rising, because they did not come forth at theirappointed times. And He was wroth with them, and bound them till the time whentheir guilt should be consummated (even) for ten thousand years.'

In Chapter 21, Enoch is terrified of Hell and of the flaming abyss he saw there andcalled it a "spectacle of the pain."

Again, we must view the writings of Enoch as a secular book and not as theauthoritative Word of God. You can accept or reject the information about angels

portrayed here. I included this in the teaching as a historical secular book to give yousome of the basis of where the Jewish traditions about angels came from.

Our next lesson will look at the role of angels in the prophetic.


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Lesson 8

Angels and the Prophetic

By Teresa Seputis

My first exposure to the fact that angels can be involved in the prophetic camethrough hearing a story about Paul Cain. Paul Cain is a person who is widelyrecognized as a modern day prophet. He has given many very detailed and veryaccurate prophetic words, and has been able to prophetically tell people he has nevermet some very specific details about their lives, such as the ages, sexes and names ofall of their children -- things like that. The Paul Cain story I heard was that an angelfrequently showed up in the meetings were he ministered, and that angel gave him thespecific details to share. Paul could see and hear the angel and occasionally otherspresent at the meeting could see the angel, but most of the people in the meeting were

unaware of it's presence. The angel stood next to Paul Cain and gave him informationas he prophesied to people -- and this was reported to be what enabled him to move inthat incredible depth of accurate details.

When I first heard that story (many years ago), it troubled me greatly. I had heard ofPaul Cain's reputation and believed that he was indeed a prophet of God. However, Ithought that type of angel story was fabricated by people and not truth about hisministry. That type of angel story bothered me greatly, so I decided to do someresearch on angels in the prophetic. To my surprise, I discovered that there is actuallya very strong Biblical precedence for the activity of angels in the prophetic. Later, I

heard Paul speak in Toronto. He made a reference to the angel who used to come tohis meetings and give him specific and detailed information. So it turned out that itwas a true story.

As I began to move more in prophetic circles, I heard similar stories from manydifferent prophets, including some that I am in personal relationship with. So far, Ihaven't had an angel come speak to me while I am ministering in a meeting. But Ihave had angels appear to me in private to instruct me and to give me propheticinsights.

The angels seem to play a real role in the prophetic. There are many examples of thisin the Bible. Let's look at a few of them...

An angel prophesied to Hagar about Ishmael and his descendents which wouldbecome the Arab nations. We find this in Genesis 16:10-12: "Then the Angel of theLord said to her, 'I will multiply your descendants exceedingly, so that they shall notbe counted for multitude.' And the Angel of the Lord said to her 'Behold, you are with


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child, And you shall bear a son. You shall call his name Ishmael, because the Lord hasheard your affliction. He shall be a wild man; His hand shall be against every man,and every man's hand against him. And he shall dwell in the presence of all hisbrethren'" (NKJV).

An angel brings a prophecy to Abraham about the nation of Israel that he will father.That happened just after he demonstrated his willingness to sacrifice Isaac, his onlyson, on the altar at God's command. We see this in Genesis 22:15-18: "Then the Angelof the Lord called to Abraham a second time out of heaven, and said: 'By Myself Ihave sworn, says the Lord, because you have done this thing, and have not withheldyour son, your only son-- blessing I will bless you, and multiplying I will multiplyyour descendants as the stars of the heaven and as the sand which is on the seashore;and your descendants shall possess the gate of their enemies. In your seed all thenations of the earth shall be blessed, because you have obeyed My voice'" (NJKV).

1 Kings 13 is a troubling story about one prophet who was sent on a mission fromGod to deliver a prophetic word of judgment on the altar that Jeroboam set up foridolatry. That prophet had been given a commission of God to not eat or drinkanything until he returned home, a several day journey. In the story there was a'retired' prophet who heard about what the prophet had done and wanted the status ofhaving him as a house guest. So he lied to him and said that God sent him to bringhim to his house and feed him. The prophet believed the retired prophet's lie and wenthome to eat with him, breaking the fast that God commanded him to be on. Godjudged the prophet, who was lied to, for breaking his fast. God struck him dead.However God did not punish the retired prophet who lied.

I may address this seemingly troublesome story in another teaching. But the part Iwant to examine now is the content of the lie the retired prophet gave in 1 Kings13:18. "He said to him, 'I too am a prophet as you are, and an angel spoke to me bythe word of the Lord, saying, "Bring him back with you to your house, that he may eatbread and drink water."' (He was lying to him.)"

The reason I bring this up is because the lie was convincing to the legitimate prophet.It demonstrates that it was normal for prophets to get directions and words fromangels. In other words, angels were involved in the prophetic even back in the OldTestament times. Prophets were used to having angels appear to them and to givethem prophetic messages to share.

In Zechariah chapter 1, the prophet is given a vision to share with the nation of Israel.He does not understand the vision and an angel is sent to explain it to him so he canprophecy from it. Verse 9 says, "Then I said, 'My lord, what are these?' So the angelwho talked with me said to me, 'I will show you what they are.'" We see another


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example of angels explaining a vision to another prophet, to Daniel, in Daniel 8:15-16and in Daniel 9:21-27.

Zechariah 1:14-17, is where an angel tells Zechariah what he is to prophecy. E.g., theangel gives Zechariah the message from God that he is to turn around and give to

men. The verses say:

So the angel who spoke with me said to me, "Proclaim, saying, 'Thus says the Lord of

hosts: I am zealous for Jerusalem and for Zion with great zeal. I am exceedingly angry

with the nations at ease; For I was a little angry, and they helped--but with evil

intent.

Therefore thus says the Lord: I am returning to Jerusalem with mercy; My house shallbe built in it,' says the Lord of hosts, 'And a surveyor's line shall be stretched out over

Jerusalem.'"

"Again proclaim, saying, 'Thus says the Lord of hosts: My cities shall again spreadout through prosperity; The Lord will again comfort Zion, And will again chooseJerusalem.'"

Zechariah 1:14-17 is very direct and clear. The angel was sent to give a propheticmessage to the prophet, who was then to deliver it to the people. It demonstrates directinvolvement of angels in the prophetic.

Angelic activity in the prophetic is not limited to just the Old Testament. We see theirinvolvement in the New Testament as well, particularly in the book of Revelation. Iam going to summarize a few of these for you and let you look them up at yourleisure. Rev 10:1-11 is the story where an angel gives the Apostle John a book ofprophetic words for John to eat. In Rev 17:1-18, an angel shows John the judgment ofthe "great harlot" (Ancient Babylon and modern day Iraq).

In Rev 21:9-27, an angel "shows" John the future state of the Church, telling himverbally that this is the Christ's 'bride' and showing him a vision of a city in heaveninhabited by "only those who are written in the Lamb's Book of Life." John records

this in the prophetic book of revelation where it gives hope to all generations of thechurch, including our generation.

Finally, Rev 22:6 tells us that "God of the holy prophets sent His angel to show Hisservants the things which must shortly take place." In other words, the bible says pointblank that God sometimes sends His angels to give His prophets details about thingsthat are going to take place in their future.


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Lesson 9

Angelic Visitations

By Teresa Seputis

People have been known to see and hear angels in visions. It is also possible to have areal physical visit from an angel. When this occurs, you are not having a vision "in thespirit," you are having a direct encounter with one of God's messengers. They come towhere you are physically and they manifest to you and they interact with you. It issometimes a frightening experience. There is often a sense of God's glory or of Hisholiness in the visitation, as angels tend to reflect God's glory. But there are also timeswhen God causes the sense of His presence to be masked and you may not realize thatan angel is appearing to you. Hebrews 13:2 says, "Do not forget to entertain strangers,for by so doing some people have entertained angels without knowing it." But, most

of the time, you will know it if you are visited by an angel.

Scripture is filled with angelic visitations to God's people. In most cases the personwas very frightened when they saw the angel and the angel's first words were "Fearnot," or "Do not be afraid." It is not surprising that angels are scary, we know that theywield great power and great authority. Tradition has it that God sent a single angelwho slew all of the firstborn in Egypt on the first Passover (Heb 11:28). We know thatGod sent a single angel to kill thousands by plague when David sinned and numberedhis soldiers (2 Samuel 24). It is clear that angels carry a great deal of power. Andsince angels come from the very presence of God, it is not surprising that they would

carry some of His glory. We can see that they radiate God's glory from Rev 22:8-9,where John was overwhelmed by the angel's glory and wanted to worship the angel.John was corrected and told to only worship God, not His servants. Another exampleis from when Gabriel visited Daniel to interpret a vision he had been given. Danielshared his experience, where he said in Dan 8:16-17, "And I heard a man's voicebetween the banks of the Ulai, who called, and said, 'Gabriel, make this manunderstand the vision.' So he came near where I stood, and when he came I was afraidand fell on my face..." Daniel was a very godly man, but he found the angel's presencevery frightening. That is a common experience.

There are many incidents of angelic visitations recorded in scripture. An angelappeared to Gideon in Judges 6:12, bringing him a commission from the Lord. Anangel appeared to Samson's mother in Judges 13:3 and gave her instructions on howto raise her son. Samson's father missed the original visitation and prayed for God tosend the angel back to instruct him as well, and God honored his prayer and did so(Judges 13:8-21). An angel appeared to David at the threshing floor of Araunah theGebusite just after God had released a plague on Israel as a judgment (2 Samuel


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24:15-17). An angel appeared to Zechariah and spoke to him in Zech 5:5. An angelappeared to Mary to tell her she was going to be Jesus' mother in Luke 1:26-38. Agreat company of angels appeared to the shepherds to announce Jesus' birth in Luke2:8-15. Angels even appeared to and ministered to Jesus while He walked on the earthas a human (Luke 22:43). An angel appeared to Cornelius and told him to send for

Peter (Acts 10:3). An angel delivered Peter from prison in Acts 12:7. Scripture is fullof stories of God sending angels to interact with His children.

Sometimes when angels appear to people, they just show up, as the angel thatsuddenly appeared when Zechariah was doing his priestly duty in the temple (seeLuke 1:8-20). The Lord, accompanied by two of His angels, appeared out of thin airbefore Abraham as he sat in his tent door (Gen 18:1-2). Other times, angels choose toappear to people in dreams instead of physically appearing before them. The angelwho spoke to Joseph (Jesus' step-father) did this several times. This is recorded inMatt 1:20, Matt 2:13 and Matt 2:19.

And angels might also walk up to you (or away from you) in a natural way. We seethis in Gen 18:16 and Gen 18:22.... "Then the men [e.g., the two angels] rose fromthere and looked toward Sodom, and Abraham went with them to send them on theway." "Then the men turned away from there and went toward Sodom, but Abrahamstill stood before the LORD." The angels did not suddenly disappear, they simplywalked away from Abraham towards Sodom until they were out of sight, just like ahuman person might do.

I must emphasize that the presence or absence of angelic visitations is not anindication of an individual's holiness, anointing or call of God on their lives. Somepeople with only minor roles in expanding God's kingdom have experienced themwhile others with very major roles and anointings have never had this type ofexperience. For instance, the shepherds on the hillside received an angelic visitationwhen Jesus was born. The bible records that they came to see the baby Jesus, but afterthat they drop out of the story.. they did not have all that important of a role, but theystill received an angelic visitation. Angelic visitations are solely from the sovereigntyof God for His purposes. We must not judge a person's spirituality or anointing basedon these experiences or the lack of them.

Angeli c Visitations Today

Until a few years ago, I had not had an angelic visitation. I had a few odd experiencesin the past, where others saw angels but I did not. One time I was with some prophetsin South Africa. They claimed that an angel was in the room. One could see the angeland the other sensed it and knew where it was in the room. Personally I could neither


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see it nor sense it's presence. I had seen angels in open visions, but I had not had onevisit me in "real life" until November of 2000.

I thought I understood how angelic visitations should work. They seemed quitestraight-forward. I figured it would go like I always seemed to read about it in

scripture. Suddenly an angel would be standing there, visible to the naked eye. Ifigured that maybe the glory of God would reflect off of them in some way. Maybethey would glow like the "actors" on "Touched By an Angel," or shine like Moses'face shined when he came away from God's presence. I figured that an angel would beroughly the same size and shape as a person, probably be clothed in white robes andmay or may not have wings. First a person would see the angel and then it wouldspeak to them and bring them a message from God. After the angel was done, it wouldsuddenly disappear into thin air. That is how I thought an angelic visitation shouldwork.

In November of 2000, I had my first angelic visitation. And I was in for a bit of asurprise. The angel did not conform to any of my expectations. The encounter did notgo at all like I expected. For starters, I could sense the angel's presence and I couldhear it's voice, but I could not actually see the angel. I could see a bright light aroundme. (We were in Italy at a hotel at the time, and my husband was sound asleep on thebed. I thought the light from the angel would wake him, but he continued to sleepsoundly through the whole episode.) I had another surprise. I assumed that angelscould only hear you if you spoke audibly, but I found that this angel responded to aquestion I had thought but did not voice verbally. The angel began to instruct me onsome stuff related to a prayer journey I was doing through Italy. Some of what theangel instructed me on was related to things the Lord has set me to pray about. I didnot think angels were sent to instruct people, so that experience set me to searchingScripture. I found that an angel had been sent to instruct Daniel in response to hisprayers for understanding.

I have since had additional visitations from this angel. There has been somesupernatural revelation that it has given to me (very detailed and accurate) but mostlythe angel has instructed me or come with the answer to something I was desperatelyseeking God about in prayer. The first time I saw a bright light, but on the othervisitations, I could not see the angel at all.. I could hear it's voice. I don't think I washearing it with my physical ears, but the voice was sharp and clear and distinct andunmistakable.

For the first three or four weeks, I was afraid to tell anyone about my visitationbecause it did not happen the way I expected. Who would imagine hearing the angelbut not seeing it? I kept very quiet about this because I did not want anyone to think Ihad gone "off of the deep end." But when I was in India, I shared this with my


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teammate. He knew of another person who had an almost identical experience withangelic visitations. It was reassuring for me to find that I was not totally alone in this.About four weeks later, I spoke to one of the prophetic school leadership coremembers, Jim Paul. I was incredibly encouraged to learn that he has also had angelicvisitations in which he heard the angel but did not see it.

Sometimes we let our culture give us expectations of what a given supernaturalexperience should be like. But where we have the actual experience it may not line upwith our expectations at all. If you have an angelic visitation, don't assume yourexperience will be like mine. Both God and angels appear to have a wide variety ofways that they do things. For instance, I know one person who has seen and spoken toangels. While he could see the angels with his physical eyes, they were translucent..e.g, you could sort of see through them, they were not totally solid. Others have seenthe angel just as though they were a physical person, modernly dressed (jeans andpolo-shirt, not a white robe).


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Lesson 10

Teresa's Angel Stories

By Teresa Seputis

We have spent the last nine lessons looking at some of the roles angels play in God'skingdom and in the realm of man. Most of this has been gleaned directly fromScripture. Two lessons shared information about angels taken from the Book OfEnoch -- which must be viewed as a historical secular writing detailing several of theancient Jewish traditions about angels. I also shared a couple of my personalexperiences with angels as God's messengers in lesson 9.

For this last lesson, I would like to share some more of my experiences with angels. Iwould like to start by sharing two things that I learned about angels from an angelic

visitation. Please do not take this as authoritative or with the same credibility asScripture. But here are a couple of things that angels taught me about angels whenthey were instructed to come teach me in certain areas...

The first is that the angels are God's servants. They are sent by God and their mainpriority/objective is serving Him. While they interact with us, their main focus andpriority is serving God. They do not become emotionally attached to us to the pointwere they want our good over God's will. An angel that had been protecting a personfor years would not hesitate to strike that person dead if God so commanded. Theirmain focus is on serving and honoring God and obeying what He tells them to do.

While they work and interact with us, they see themselves as God's servants and theyfocus on God's agenda.

The other thing I learned is that angels sometimes have a latitude in how they do theirjob. They may get an assignment, such as delivering a message to a person. The angelmay choose to appear directly to the person (as an angel appeared to Mary in Luke1:28). Or the angel may choose to appear to the person in a dream (as it did withJoseph in Matt 1:20, Matt 2:13 and Matt 2:19). In some aspects, angels are verysimilar to prophets, because they are given a message from God to deliver tosomeone. The big difference is that the clarity and accuracy of an angel's hearing is

always 100% accurate. There are times when God dictates a message from a prophetword for word, leaving the prophet no choice in how to deliver it. But many timesGod will deposit a message in a prophet and give the prophet leeway to decide how todeliver and phrase that message. It is similar for the angels. They get theirassignments and their messages from God, but God will often give them leeway todecide how to carry out that assignment. Angels are not robots, they are cognizantbeings who love God and who gladly and willingly serve Him.


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Now I would like to switch gears and share a few stories that fall under the realm ofangelic protection, as per Psalm 91:11-12. It says, "For He will command His angelsconcerning you to guard you in all your ways; they will lift you up in their hands, sothat you will not strike your foot against a stone." In other words, one of the tasks thatGod gives His angels is to protect His elect from harm.

One day in October of 2000, I had been sick and was recovering from the stomach flu.It had been raining outside and the dogs had been cooped up in the house all day. Iwas working on GodSpeak lessons all day and concentrating on th

Angels in the Prophetic

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