Sermon Tone Analysis

! Introduction

The Doctrine of Angels”*

*/Angels Are A Very Popular Subject These Days/**/./*

“Angelmania” has swept popular culture and is the hottest New Age trend at the moment.

Recently five of the top ten books on a list of religious best-sellers were books dealing with the subject of angels.

One book that has topped the charts for many months is a how-to guide instructing people on methods for contacting angels, communicating with them, and even receiving guidance from them.

One well-known secular publisher lists all these titles in its catalogue: /Angel Letters/, /Angel Power/, /An Angel to Watch Over Me/, /Angel’s Bidding/, /Angels and Aliens/, /Angels Over Their Shoulders/, /The Angels Weep/, /The Angels Within Us/, /Angels: The Mysterious Messengers/ and /Ask Your Angels/.

And that’s only in the listings under “A”!

Communicating with angels is serious business, according to books like these.

According to the publisher’s promotional material for the most popular of these books,

“The authors show us how we can draw on the power of angels to reconnect with our lost inner selves and to achieve our goals, whether they be better relationships, healing an illness, or recovery from addiction.”

Supposedly this book will teach the reader “how to align with the angelic energy field and learn to talk with your angels.”

*Here Are Some Other Verbatim Quotations From Various Publishers’ Comments About Their Latest Angelic Books*:

• Through the easy techniques presented in this book, you can learn to access and attune to beings such as guardian angels, nature spirits and elementals, spirit totems, archangels, gods and goddesses—as well as family and friends after their physical death.

Also reveals which acupressure points stimulate your intuitive faculties, how to protect yourself from lower-level discarnates, and how to conquer fears of the unknown.

• Everyone has a Spirit Guide or guardian angel who assists him in keeping on a chosen Karmic path.

[This cassette tape] helps you get in touch with yours.

• [You can learn to] contact your guardian angel and be receptive to the angelic realm in your daily life.

Learn how to attune to the higher frequencies of Spirit, to be more aware of angels and nature spirits, and to communicate with these loving beings in order to develop a deeper appreciation of our own place in Creation.

• [This book] enables us to begin to open our hearts to these joyful and comforting protectors, so we can raise our consciousness to a new dimension.

• All the pieces in this unique collection stress the cooperation between humans and angels in the creation of our inner life and even of nature.

The reader experiences a rich and variegated view of these ancient, elusive spirits that have inspired us for so long.

• The authors teach you nine specific ways your personal angel protects you, how to call out to your guardian angel, and how to get your angel to answer your cry for help and assistance in matters big and small.

You’ll also find out about the Angelic Hierarchy and learn the actual language of the Angelic Kingdom!

• Shows us how to co-create with the angels and the Kingdom of Heaven on Earth.

Specific exercises and meditations help you communicate with angels who are waiting to be invited into your life!

• By utilizing a combination of your birth sign and a specific colored candle, you can obtain the magic and wisdom you want in life by calling upon the angels.

This book contains many spiritual secrets that will guide the reader to success and power.

* *

*/Do Not Worship Angels, Pray to Them, or Seek Them/**:*

"Worship of angels" (Col.

2:18) was one of the false doctrines being taught at Colossae.

An angel speaking to John in the book of Revelation warns John not to worship him: /"You must not do that!

I am a fellow servant with you and your brethren who hold the testimony of Jesus.

Worship God" (//Rev.

19:10//)./

q         Angels—like all other intelligent creatures—were designed to /render worship to God/, not to /receive worship themselves/.

q         In fact, in every case in Scripture, whenever angels are offered any form of worship, they always rebuke the worshiper and redirect all worship to God alone (cf.

Rev. 19:10; 22:8–9).

q         Psalm 148 confirms that the angels are created beings who worship the Creator:

/Praise the LORD!

Praise the LORD from the heavens; Praise Him in the heights!

Praise Him, all His angels; Praise Him, all His hosts!

Praise Him, sun and moon; Praise Him, all you stars of light!

Praise Him, you heavens of heavens, And you waters above the heavens!

Let them praise the name of the LORD, For He commanded and they were created.

(Psalms 148:1-5 NKJV)/

We are to pray only to God, who alone is omnipotent and thus able to answer prayer and who alone is omniscient and therefore able to hear the prayers of all his people at once.

Paul warns us against thinking that any other "mediator" can come between us and God, "for there is one God, and there is /one mediator/ between God and men, the man Christ Jesus" (1 Tim.

2:5).

If we were to pray to angels, it would be implicitly attributing to them a status equal to God, which we must not do.

There is no example in Scripture of anyone praying to any specific angel or asking angels for help.

To seek such appearances would seem to indicate an unhealthy curiosity or a desire for some kind of spectacular event rather than a love for God and devotion to him and his work.

Though angels did appear to people at various times in Scripture, the people apparently never sought those appearances.

Our role is rather to talk to the Lord, who is himself the commander of all angelic forces.

*I.

**Introduction*

Angels are also referred to as “holy ones” (Ps.

89:5, 7) in the sense that they are “set apart” by God and for God as attendants to His holiness.

Angels are referred to as the “host,” which can be understood to denote the armies of heaven (Ps.

89:6, 8; 1 Sam.

17:45).

 

A.