Can We Send Angels On Assignment By Dispatching Them Through Our Command?
Question: Today I heard from a well know healing evangelist in America, he was discussing about the doctrine of angels in which he told that we have the power to command angels to fulfill the assignments that we need to fulfill in our lives. In fact, he told that they are ministering spirits sent to the saved people, so that they can protect them and fulfill whatever need there are for them to be fulfilled. He did go to the extent of telling how we should dispatch angels to choose the type of job we want to get, the position we want to be, and the favor we want to enjoy in the place we live by the grace of God. He also referred to his father who was also a great healing evangelist who taught him these thing from his life. Also further he told, that when he went to a particular meeting of a very big pastor to address the Church crowd for three continuous weeks, he saw angels flying in with some cloth and placing it on those whom he called out for healing, and they were instantly healed and came to testify of the healing, when this happened the Pastor of that church whose wife was sitting behind the pulpit was also was able to see these angels work healing after each command from him. Then he told, as he dispatched more of the angels with specific word, more healing happened and more miracles began to take place, then he tells all the saints to do the same in their lives too. I smell something wrong with this so called doctrine which according to me does not conform to our New Testament standard but rather the new age false teaching which is spreading in all the world like a wild fire to deceive the Church of the living God. What do you think? Thanks in advance for expressing through your Biblical teaching from the Word of God.
Answer: Greetings in Jesus wonderful name!
One day as I was sitting in my Bible college listening to a lecture from a staff about the angels, after the class was over one of my friend who was an advocate by profession with keen reasoning mind who had come to study the Bible, asked me the following question, 'If God was the one who created all things and does all things by the hand of his power, why does he actually need the angels to assist him in his work?' I answered him back saying, we know that our God is the Master of the whole universe, He has created servants under him by His own will and choice, and therefore organizes them to work for him voluntarily. In other words, if God has chosen not to use angels, he could have easily done everything by Himself. But God enjoys his creation and chooses to have fellowship with them and spends time with them for His own Glory to be revealed to them and through them (Rev 4:8; 19:10; 22:8-9).
First of all we need to understand what the Scripture really says about angels in relationship with God and then their relationship with us humans in regard to the Scripture, only then we can really find what is truth and what are lies that are propagated from the world and one's own imaginations.
1) Angels were created much before heaven and earth were created, angels were made with a choice to follow God as His servant or themselves by their own conscious choice (Psa 104:4; 103:20-21). In fact, God's throne in the first heaven was established before angels were created to live in the second heaven, so that they all could serve under Him by submitting to His will and walk pleasing to Him voluntarily by their own choice (Psa 103:19).
2) When the angels in heaven saw the earth being created by God with its foundation being laid, they all shouted for joy and were submitting to the perfect will of God (Job 38:6, 7). But something happened immediately then, Satan who understood the plans of God and the ordinances of the heavens, through which He has set angels as watchers to fulfill heaven's ordinance to be executed on earth in order that humans on earth might be able to exercise dominion over the earth through their submission to it (Job 38:33; Dan 4:13-14; Ezek 28:3), became jealous of the humans who were going to be created in God's own image which will make them be closer to God than himself who was the one and only one to have very private times with God until then in the highest level of power and glory (Isa 14:13-14; Ezek 28:17). Satan understood that because humans will be created in the image of God as God's carriers, he will have to obey them when God speaks through them which will make him become their servant too apart from God (Heb 1:14; Psa 8:5, 2, 6; Rom 16:20). Satan did not like this God's idea and therefore rebelled along with one third of the entire angels along with him and fell to the earth with their power over it to make it become chaotic (Gen 1:26, 27, 2; Rev 12:4; Job 1:12, 13-19; 2:2, 3, 6-7). Also because of lack of humility to submit to the plans of God, he wanted to become like God and lusted in his heart for the worship of humans who were going to be created (Isa 14:12, 13-15). God threw him from first heaven, he convinced all the one third of the angels to follow him and was thrown out of second heaven too, after which he along with his demonic hordes of angels created void and darkness on earth to make the creation become purposeless and meaningless against the will of God (Isa 45:18).
3) Angels do not procreate and are spirits (Psa 104:4; Heb 1:14), they neither marry nor are given in marriage (Matt 22:30). The fallen angels who sided themselves with Satan's agenda have all become demons without body, seeking to express themselves in a wicked way to forcefully get in to the the people who are not aware enough to submit to God and resist such devils to deny them a residence house to occupy and receive their torment (Luke 11:24-26; 8:2; Jam 4:7; Matt 18:34). The unclean spirit is the devil or demon who does the Satan's bidding (Mark 1:23; Luke 4:34). It is like a shadow cast upon the soul of humans.
4) The angels that revealed themselves to humans in human form or even unaware are only those who do the Lord's bidding in His will and assignment when they are sent to fulfill the plan and purposes of God all over the Bible (Heb 13:2; Gen 18:1-22; 19:1), and one of the primary reason among them initially for their rebellion is because of knowing their purpose is to guard the children of God in all their ways subserviently in the will of God, the rebels have become demons of disembodied spirits, and those two third of majority of obedient angels still follow God to obey Him (Psa 91:11-12; 103:20). A messenger angel of God named Gabriel was the one appeared to Joseph in a dream and appeared to Mary literally (Matt 1:20-25; Luke 1:26-35), and then appeared to John the Baptist's father in a literal sense and not just a vision (Luke 1:10-25). An angel of the Lord appeared to Peter to free Him from the prison and death sentence literally twice (Acts 5:19; 12:5-11). Heaven counts these good angels as an "innumerable [company of] angels" (Heb 12:22). In spite, God knows the names of each of these angels by name (Psa 147:4; Isa 40:26).
5) A part of the truth is what I have conveyed, but the real truth for humans is, now in the first Adam we are lower than the angels but in the last Adam Jesus Christ in whom we are created newly through believing Him, we will become greater than the angels to judge even the fallen angels in the soon coming age of Glory in His Kingdom (1 Cor 15:45-46; Heb 6:5; 1 Cor 15:1; 6:2-3). That is why the Scripture conveys the real picture of reality and truth saying, "5 For He has not put the world to come, of which we speak, in subjection to angels. 6 But one testified in a certain place, saying: “What is man that You are mindful of him, or the son of man that You take care of him? 7 You have made him a little lower than the angels [(i.e.) Elohim who is God (Psa 8:5)]; You have crowned him with glory and honor, and set him over the works of Your hands. 8 You have put all things in subjection under his feet.” For in that He put all in subjection under him, He left nothing that is not put under him. But now we do not yet see all things put under him. 9 But we see Jesus, who was made a little lower than the angels, for the suffering of death crowned with glory and honor, that He, by the grace of God, might taste death for everyone. 10 For it was fitting for Him, for whom are all things and by whom are all things, in bringing many sons to glory, to make the captain of their salvation perfect through sufferings. 11 For both He who sanctifies and those who are being sanctified are all of one, for which reason He is not ashamed to call them brethren, 12 saying: “I will declare Your name to My brethren; In the midst of the assembly I will sing praise to You.” 13 And again: “I will put My trust in Him.” And again: “Here am I and the children whom God has given Me.” 14 Inasmuch then as the children have partaken of flesh and blood, He Himself likewise shared in the same, that through death He might destroy him who had the power of death, that is, the devil, 15 and release those who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage. 16 For indeed He does not give aid to angels, but He does give aid to the seed of Abraham. 17 Therefore, in all things He had to be made like His brethren, that He might be a merciful and faithful High Priest in things pertaining to God, to make propitiation for the sins of the people. 18 For in that He Himself has suffered, being tempted, He is able to aid those who are tempted." (Heb 2:5-18).
(i) The above Scriptures teach us that the present world has been put under subjection to angels not willingly by God but in hope of the coming "sons of God", who will reveal to the world a better tomorrow through the true workings of God to subdue all things to Himself (Rom 8:18-25; Php 3:21), so that the world to come under Jesus Christ as the "King of Kings and Lord of Lords" will be put under the subjection of saints and the Church (Rev 19:16; Dan 7:27; Eph 1:22-23).
(ii) God has in truth has put all things including the angels at work under the feet of the Church and saints, but in reality this truth has not yet been fulfilled, which will be fulfilled very soon as Jesus comes to earth along with his saints to rule this present earth for a thousand year period (Rev 19:11-21). Then forever Satan and all the evil angels will be put under the feet of all the saints forever and ever (Matt 8:29; Rom 16:20). Hallelujah! Glory be to God!
(iii) In order to lift us the fallen humans to become the sons of God, Jesus has become a human son of man in the present time and was made "a little lower than the angels", "for the suffering of death crowned with glory and honor, that He, by the grace of God, might taste death for everyone." (Heb 2:9). Jesus tasted death for everyone of us as man though he was God in the flesh, so that we who are lower than the angels now in the present world subjected to angels might be lifted above the angels as God's "sons" that we might be led to inherit the glory of God for eternity ahead just like Jesus who has become our Brother and is not ashamed to call us His brothers (Heb 2:10-11).
(iv) God has made a "brethren" community and an "assembly" of "a great multitude which no one can number" of people from all nations and tribes and tongues (Rev 7:9), and they will be seen standing before the "throne" and the "Lamb" clothed with white robes which is the salvation provided by Jesus Christ for them individually through their belief when they were on earth where they were redeemed by Him, this company of people which we call as the Church will rule the earth for a thousand years time and also for eternity in the New Heaven and New Earth (Rev 7:9-10; 5:9-10; 2 Pet 3:13; 1 Cor 6:2-3; Rev 21:26-27).
(v) Till Jesus died for our sins and redeemed us by becoming one among us humans (1 Pet 1:18-21), Satan had the power of death through which he created "fear of death" in the mind of people, and till death he kept them in this fear to influence them and paralyze them spiritually to become potent less for the purpose of God to be fulfilled in their lives. Praise God that he has now given to us in Christ Jesus the "spirit of love, power and sound mind" to fulfill the plans and purposes of God for our lives (2 Tim 1:7), so that in the age to come we might rule over the angels literally as Jesus has not given aid to them, but to us the lowly and humbled "seed of Abraham" he has given aid through faith to become His beloved children forever and ever (Gal 3:29; Heb 2:13; John 1:12).
(vi) In all things Jesus has to be made like us humans, so that he could become a compassionate and merciful representative of us before God by understanding the weakness of human psyche of the soul mind, so that he could help their sins be forgiven by God and thus share His victory with us humans because Jesus Himself as a human has gone through suffering and temptation like every one of us, because of this self-experience, He is able to give aid to us with practical understanding all those who are tempted to thrown away the plans and purposes of God by being misled by the Satanic angels who always try to steal, kill and destroy us all the time, thus Jesus instead provides us with the abundant life of heaven on earth to fulfill the plans and purposes of God for us on earth (John 10:10).
6) What have we learnt about the reality of the relationship of angels to humans until now? We know that they are created to serve humans under the direction of God in the fallen world of humans. But in the upcoming world of saints under Jesus, instead of angels ruling the world, the world will be ruled by the saints and will be made to exhibit the greatness of God through them, so that at the end of the thousand years rule of Jesus and his saints, all the imprisoned wicked angelic demons along with all the rebellious fallen angels will be judged by the saints of God before the White Throne judgment for fallen humans starts (Matt 25:41, 46; Rev 20:7-10, 11-15). Do we have authority as the child of God to over demons and angels now? The answer is yes and no, because Jesus has not given us who are the saints of the Church all authority to rule over them now, but rather to restrict their activities and bind their evil power which is working always against spreading the message of the Kingdom of God (Luke 10:17-20; Matt 28:18-20; 1 Thess 2:18; Acts 17:1-9). In Romans 1:13, we learn that Paul was often hindered from reaching the believers in Rome. During the Old Testament times, it was still worse, as a message which God has told to Daniel has been delayed nearly 21 days by Satanic activities of opposition in the heavenly places (Dan 10:12-13,20). Usually in our times, Satan uses a corrupt human government to hinder God’s work. Regarding bad angels, we are told to resist the devil by submitting to God when various temptations come through the devils of many kind (Jam 4:7; 1:12-15). The way to overcome Satan and his evil angels has been revealed to the saints already (Rev 12:9, 11), one is by confessing our known sins to God and getting covered by the blood of the Lamb, and the other is by confessing by the word of our testimony, the truth of what Jesus has done for us by our faith in his blood, to negate the accusing work of Satan and his demons (Rev 12:10), which gives us victory over him and his minions. Once we practice these two points, it shows that we do not love our self-life anymore but are putting it to death and instead receiving the Christ life by faith which we love to live moment by moment for the Glory of God which becomes our victory (1 John 1:7, 9; 5:4-5).
Any contact we make with the angels, apart from the above described resistance against bad angels temptation to sin will be a cause of concern which the Bible has warned about. The Bible always tells us to focus only on Jesus, only then all the unfallen angels will agree with the word of God to help us worship only Jesus even if we see them in a glorious vision or even in reality, and they will speak against worshiping them but will humbly tell you that they are your servant and the servants of all the Bible believers of faith, through which we can keep ourselves from being deceived by false visions of the fallen angels who always try to act in a deceitful way by transforming themselves as the angel of light to deceive the saints and mislead them in to uselessness for God and His Kingdom (Heb 12:2; Rev 22:9; 2 Cor 11:13-14).
To “ask” the angels to help us, “Invite them” to come, and to “thank them”, etc...are not at all Biblically allowed by God, as these very act is equal to bowing and worshiping these evil beings as god, and will lead us in to deception and worship of angels which is forbidden by God to his children, and it is indeed a abomination to God, the Lord our God has not appointed such things for us because we are His children whom He guards jealously from being led away from Him by false gods which are fallen angels (Col 2:15-19; Deut 32:16-18; 18:9-10, 11-12, 13, 14).
These highly deceptive evil beings trying to pass themselves off as legitimate angels of God, but are in fact when tested according to the directive of God's apostolic words "to test the spirits" (1 John 4:1-2), stands in stark contrast to the Biblical message of humility and obedience by submitting to the Lordship of Jesus Christ and following his humanity as an example to follow (1 Cor 12:3; 1 Pet 2:21-22), and thus show love towards God and fellow erring humans as a outworking of his life within (1 John 4:20-21). The Bible calls such deceptive beings as “demons” and “evil spirits”. They do not serve God, but rather Satan himself, who “… masquerades as an angel of light” along with his fallen angels to deceive people to worship and serve his own end by feeding their desires to their self to become bloated enough to be selfish and rebel against God (2 Cor. 11:14). Involvement with such beings will lead a person away from God and Christ and has the potential to spiritually, and mentally, ruin a person. They usually feeds us with pride and tantalize us with visions of glory to flatter us and make us feel that we are somebody special than all other people around us which is not the right attitude that Christ has taught us to live by (Php 2:3-4, 5-8).
As for your example that you have given and asked for clarification, I believe that these evangelists are not following the message of Cross and humility which the Bible teaches, but rather they are deceived to spread a new age message of prosperity to serve their own ends, that is why they teach by telling [everyone] how we should dispatch angels to choose the type of job we want to get, the position we want to be, and the favor we want to enjoy in the place we live to feed the self with pride and be guided in to deception of worship of angels rather than the God who created us for His own glory. Take notice, that they do not teach how to submit to God and make the devils flee, they do not teach how to be humble ourselves before God and fellow humans in order to attract the grace of God, they do not teach how to take up our own cross to deny self and embrace the will of God for us, they do not teach how to please God by loving others as ourselves, etc...they do not teach these core doctrines of the Bible to spread the good news because they are not serving the Lord's Church which is His body, but they are serving themselves and living for their own gain as like they do in the world being an island rather than be in the Body of Christ by submitting to each other in the fear of God (Eph 5:21).
I do not doubt that God cannot reveal his angels to our plain eyes, because I have already shown to you all the Biblical examples where angels were seen by people when they were walking in the will of God, in which the angels were used as messengers, deliverers, guides and as vessels of encouragement to strengthen God's people in their need (Acts 10:3-4, 5; 27:23), but not one time we see these people ask to God for angelic help or speak to the angels for help in their time of need, instead they prayed to God who sent these angels to help them in their time of need (Heb 4:16). Jesus Christ as the very Lord of Hosts had every rights over the angels to command them directly and make them obey his orders from the Cross, but overcame the temptation to call for their help even by calling to the Father God on the Cross against the will of God. In fact if Jesus has called a angel to help him by asking the Father God in heaven, the whole of heaven was ready to help him to be rescued from the cross in a fraction of a second, but the salvation plan would have been aborted by breaking of the will of God in disobedience as in the case of first Adam (Matt 26:53; Rom 5:12). This is the only Biblical pattern set by Jesus for us to follow him by walking in the will of God even if it means we have to sacrifice our very own life on earth to fulfill it for the Glory of God. So we should pray for the will of God to be fulfilled in our life, rather than pray to God to protect us from harm when it is in the will of God, the mother of all temptation is to become fearful and flee away from the will of God to save ourselves. We as the followers of Christ should overcome it by prayer just like He did victoriously in the garden on the Mount of Olives (Luke 22:42; Matt 26:38, 39, 41-42, 44).
When someone is telling that the angels are ministering spirits sent to the saved people, so that they can protect them and fulfill whatever need there are for them to be fulfilled, be careful, they are telling only half the truth like Satan did to Jesus when he told to Jesus by quoting from the Scripture to throw Himself down from the pinnacle of the Temple so that angels will bear him up from dashing on the stone down below to protect him from imminent death (Matt 4:5-7). The hidden truth that deception veils is through telling a half truth many times which always ends with a lie, without fail it leads to testing of God's faithfulness rather than trusting in God's faithfulness. To the law and to the testimony: if they speak not according to this word, it is because there is no light in them (Isa 8:20). God doesn't want us to feed ourselves selfishly through fleshly prayers (Jam 4:3-4), but rather wants us to trust Him for our needs, day by day and moment by moment (Matt 6:11).
So I do not even doubt that this Evangelist seeing angels or the Pastor's wife also seeing angels sitting behind him in the stage as God can choose to reveal them when he sends them on gospel assignment to deliver his healing message to the people of God as like in the pool of Bethesda with a sign (John 5:3-4; Acts 23:7-8, 9), but I really doubt and also resist the doctrine which was conveyed through the incident, as it was not really a Biblical one, but rather a new age doctrine of deceit that has no truth in it as you have suspected rightly. This man of God who has seen all the healing by the gifts of the Holy Spirit given to specific individuals to convey the message of the gospel, even if he has seen those angels through which healing began to occur at that point of time, he cannot tell the saints to do the same in their lives based on the vision he has seen because it was a corporate vision for the Church and not for the individual saints (1 Cor 12:8-11). To take a corporate message and make it a personal message to the saints is to totally misinterpret the purpose for which the Lord has given him the vision. The healing gifts operating is for some individuals, and not for all the saints in the Church (1 Cor 12:30), which shows the lack of understanding in him to convey the truth of the message he has seen regarding angels. Rather it was a message of God to impart faith to show him that when he works according to the will of God, more miracles will happen as easily as God intended it to be according to his faith (Mark 6:5-6; Mark 9:23; Matt 9:29; Luke 17:9-10).
I understand that no matter how big an evangelist is, God has specialized them to do the work of the gospel to the unreached and needy people of this world to show how good He is, and is alive to take care of their lives for the rest of the eternity. So I believe that they should be careful when it comes to expressing doctrines to the people of God, they should leave it to the apostles and prophets and teachers of the Word of God to expound it in the right perspective to the people of God (Eph 2:20; 1 Cor 12:28, 29). They as evangelist should stick on to the basic work of preaching Christ "Jesus" to people and introducing Him to them, and directing them to the local churches where God has placed his other ministries to feed the newly born lamb with both milk and later with solid food as he grows in the Lord (Heb 5:12-14; 1 Pet 2:2-3; 1 Cor 3:2-4). That is the one thing the evangelist of the 1st century rightly did, they only focused on preaching the Word of God to the world, and baptized them, then welcomed the apostles to come and establish these new born babes in Christ to be fed with the Spirit and the Word for the Glory of God (Acts 8:4-8, 9-13, 14-25, 35). Now a days evangelist become an island to build a separate empire by themselves which is not a true apostolic pattern. So the Church should also look in our times and seasons to establish the same apostolic pattern of evangelism and discipleship so that we may be able to counter all demonic deceptions that are coming towards the Church to scatter the flocks and weaken them with wrong and demonic doctrines.
The bottom line is, we do not have the power to command angels to fulfill the assignments that we need to fulfill in our lives, but rather we have our God who is our loving Father in Heaven to help us fulfill His assignments He has given us to fulfill on earth after our salvation when we ask Him (Eph 2:10; Matt 7:7; Jam 4:2), because He Himself loves us and has expressed it through giving His only begotten Son to die for us on the Cross to forgive our sins and lead us in to friendship with Himself (John 16:26-27, 23; 3:16; Rom 8:32; 2 Cor 5:18-19, 21).
Much Blessings....
Answer: Greetings in Jesus wonderful name!
One day as I was sitting in my Bible college listening to a lecture from a staff about the angels, after the class was over one of my friend who was an advocate by profession with keen reasoning mind who had come to study the Bible, asked me the following question, 'If God was the one who created all things and does all things by the hand of his power, why does he actually need the angels to assist him in his work?' I answered him back saying, we know that our God is the Master of the whole universe, He has created servants under him by His own will and choice, and therefore organizes them to work for him voluntarily. In other words, if God has chosen not to use angels, he could have easily done everything by Himself. But God enjoys his creation and chooses to have fellowship with them and spends time with them for His own Glory to be revealed to them and through them (Rev 4:8; 19:10; 22:8-9).
Scriptural Viewpoint Of Angels In Relationship To Humans
First of all we need to understand what the Scripture really says about angels in relationship with God and then their relationship with us humans in regard to the Scripture, only then we can really find what is truth and what are lies that are propagated from the world and one's own imaginations.
1) Angels were created much before heaven and earth were created, angels were made with a choice to follow God as His servant or themselves by their own conscious choice (Psa 104:4; 103:20-21). In fact, God's throne in the first heaven was established before angels were created to live in the second heaven, so that they all could serve under Him by submitting to His will and walk pleasing to Him voluntarily by their own choice (Psa 103:19).
2) When the angels in heaven saw the earth being created by God with its foundation being laid, they all shouted for joy and were submitting to the perfect will of God (Job 38:6, 7). But something happened immediately then, Satan who understood the plans of God and the ordinances of the heavens, through which He has set angels as watchers to fulfill heaven's ordinance to be executed on earth in order that humans on earth might be able to exercise dominion over the earth through their submission to it (Job 38:33; Dan 4:13-14; Ezek 28:3), became jealous of the humans who were going to be created in God's own image which will make them be closer to God than himself who was the one and only one to have very private times with God until then in the highest level of power and glory (Isa 14:13-14; Ezek 28:17). Satan understood that because humans will be created in the image of God as God's carriers, he will have to obey them when God speaks through them which will make him become their servant too apart from God (Heb 1:14; Psa 8:5, 2, 6; Rom 16:20). Satan did not like this God's idea and therefore rebelled along with one third of the entire angels along with him and fell to the earth with their power over it to make it become chaotic (Gen 1:26, 27, 2; Rev 12:4; Job 1:12, 13-19; 2:2, 3, 6-7). Also because of lack of humility to submit to the plans of God, he wanted to become like God and lusted in his heart for the worship of humans who were going to be created (Isa 14:12, 13-15). God threw him from first heaven, he convinced all the one third of the angels to follow him and was thrown out of second heaven too, after which he along with his demonic hordes of angels created void and darkness on earth to make the creation become purposeless and meaningless against the will of God (Isa 45:18).
3) Angels do not procreate and are spirits (Psa 104:4; Heb 1:14), they neither marry nor are given in marriage (Matt 22:30). The fallen angels who sided themselves with Satan's agenda have all become demons without body, seeking to express themselves in a wicked way to forcefully get in to the the people who are not aware enough to submit to God and resist such devils to deny them a residence house to occupy and receive their torment (Luke 11:24-26; 8:2; Jam 4:7; Matt 18:34). The unclean spirit is the devil or demon who does the Satan's bidding (Mark 1:23; Luke 4:34). It is like a shadow cast upon the soul of humans.
4) The angels that revealed themselves to humans in human form or even unaware are only those who do the Lord's bidding in His will and assignment when they are sent to fulfill the plan and purposes of God all over the Bible (Heb 13:2; Gen 18:1-22; 19:1), and one of the primary reason among them initially for their rebellion is because of knowing their purpose is to guard the children of God in all their ways subserviently in the will of God, the rebels have become demons of disembodied spirits, and those two third of majority of obedient angels still follow God to obey Him (Psa 91:11-12; 103:20). A messenger angel of God named Gabriel was the one appeared to Joseph in a dream and appeared to Mary literally (Matt 1:20-25; Luke 1:26-35), and then appeared to John the Baptist's father in a literal sense and not just a vision (Luke 1:10-25). An angel of the Lord appeared to Peter to free Him from the prison and death sentence literally twice (Acts 5:19; 12:5-11). Heaven counts these good angels as an "innumerable [company of] angels" (Heb 12:22). In spite, God knows the names of each of these angels by name (Psa 147:4; Isa 40:26).
5) A part of the truth is what I have conveyed, but the real truth for humans is, now in the first Adam we are lower than the angels but in the last Adam Jesus Christ in whom we are created newly through believing Him, we will become greater than the angels to judge even the fallen angels in the soon coming age of Glory in His Kingdom (1 Cor 15:45-46; Heb 6:5; 1 Cor 15:1; 6:2-3). That is why the Scripture conveys the real picture of reality and truth saying, "5 For He has not put the world to come, of which we speak, in subjection to angels. 6 But one testified in a certain place, saying: “What is man that You are mindful of him, or the son of man that You take care of him? 7 You have made him a little lower than the angels [(i.e.) Elohim who is God (Psa 8:5)]; You have crowned him with glory and honor, and set him over the works of Your hands. 8 You have put all things in subjection under his feet.” For in that He put all in subjection under him, He left nothing that is not put under him. But now we do not yet see all things put under him. 9 But we see Jesus, who was made a little lower than the angels, for the suffering of death crowned with glory and honor, that He, by the grace of God, might taste death for everyone. 10 For it was fitting for Him, for whom are all things and by whom are all things, in bringing many sons to glory, to make the captain of their salvation perfect through sufferings. 11 For both He who sanctifies and those who are being sanctified are all of one, for which reason He is not ashamed to call them brethren, 12 saying: “I will declare Your name to My brethren; In the midst of the assembly I will sing praise to You.” 13 And again: “I will put My trust in Him.” And again: “Here am I and the children whom God has given Me.” 14 Inasmuch then as the children have partaken of flesh and blood, He Himself likewise shared in the same, that through death He might destroy him who had the power of death, that is, the devil, 15 and release those who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage. 16 For indeed He does not give aid to angels, but He does give aid to the seed of Abraham. 17 Therefore, in all things He had to be made like His brethren, that He might be a merciful and faithful High Priest in things pertaining to God, to make propitiation for the sins of the people. 18 For in that He Himself has suffered, being tempted, He is able to aid those who are tempted." (Heb 2:5-18).
(i) The above Scriptures teach us that the present world has been put under subjection to angels not willingly by God but in hope of the coming "sons of God", who will reveal to the world a better tomorrow through the true workings of God to subdue all things to Himself (Rom 8:18-25; Php 3:21), so that the world to come under Jesus Christ as the "King of Kings and Lord of Lords" will be put under the subjection of saints and the Church (Rev 19:16; Dan 7:27; Eph 1:22-23).
(ii) God has in truth has put all things including the angels at work under the feet of the Church and saints, but in reality this truth has not yet been fulfilled, which will be fulfilled very soon as Jesus comes to earth along with his saints to rule this present earth for a thousand year period (Rev 19:11-21). Then forever Satan and all the evil angels will be put under the feet of all the saints forever and ever (Matt 8:29; Rom 16:20). Hallelujah! Glory be to God!
(iii) In order to lift us the fallen humans to become the sons of God, Jesus has become a human son of man in the present time and was made "a little lower than the angels", "for the suffering of death crowned with glory and honor, that He, by the grace of God, might taste death for everyone." (Heb 2:9). Jesus tasted death for everyone of us as man though he was God in the flesh, so that we who are lower than the angels now in the present world subjected to angels might be lifted above the angels as God's "sons" that we might be led to inherit the glory of God for eternity ahead just like Jesus who has become our Brother and is not ashamed to call us His brothers (Heb 2:10-11).
(iv) God has made a "brethren" community and an "assembly" of "a great multitude which no one can number" of people from all nations and tribes and tongues (Rev 7:9), and they will be seen standing before the "throne" and the "Lamb" clothed with white robes which is the salvation provided by Jesus Christ for them individually through their belief when they were on earth where they were redeemed by Him, this company of people which we call as the Church will rule the earth for a thousand years time and also for eternity in the New Heaven and New Earth (Rev 7:9-10; 5:9-10; 2 Pet 3:13; 1 Cor 6:2-3; Rev 21:26-27).
(v) Till Jesus died for our sins and redeemed us by becoming one among us humans (1 Pet 1:18-21), Satan had the power of death through which he created "fear of death" in the mind of people, and till death he kept them in this fear to influence them and paralyze them spiritually to become potent less for the purpose of God to be fulfilled in their lives. Praise God that he has now given to us in Christ Jesus the "spirit of love, power and sound mind" to fulfill the plans and purposes of God for our lives (2 Tim 1:7), so that in the age to come we might rule over the angels literally as Jesus has not given aid to them, but to us the lowly and humbled "seed of Abraham" he has given aid through faith to become His beloved children forever and ever (Gal 3:29; Heb 2:13; John 1:12).
(vi) In all things Jesus has to be made like us humans, so that he could become a compassionate and merciful representative of us before God by understanding the weakness of human psyche of the soul mind, so that he could help their sins be forgiven by God and thus share His victory with us humans because Jesus Himself as a human has gone through suffering and temptation like every one of us, because of this self-experience, He is able to give aid to us with practical understanding all those who are tempted to thrown away the plans and purposes of God by being misled by the Satanic angels who always try to steal, kill and destroy us all the time, thus Jesus instead provides us with the abundant life of heaven on earth to fulfill the plans and purposes of God for us on earth (John 10:10).
6) What have we learnt about the reality of the relationship of angels to humans until now? We know that they are created to serve humans under the direction of God in the fallen world of humans. But in the upcoming world of saints under Jesus, instead of angels ruling the world, the world will be ruled by the saints and will be made to exhibit the greatness of God through them, so that at the end of the thousand years rule of Jesus and his saints, all the imprisoned wicked angelic demons along with all the rebellious fallen angels will be judged by the saints of God before the White Throne judgment for fallen humans starts (Matt 25:41, 46; Rev 20:7-10, 11-15). Do we have authority as the child of God to over demons and angels now? The answer is yes and no, because Jesus has not given us who are the saints of the Church all authority to rule over them now, but rather to restrict their activities and bind their evil power which is working always against spreading the message of the Kingdom of God (Luke 10:17-20; Matt 28:18-20; 1 Thess 2:18; Acts 17:1-9). In Romans 1:13, we learn that Paul was often hindered from reaching the believers in Rome. During the Old Testament times, it was still worse, as a message which God has told to Daniel has been delayed nearly 21 days by Satanic activities of opposition in the heavenly places (Dan 10:12-13,20). Usually in our times, Satan uses a corrupt human government to hinder God’s work. Regarding bad angels, we are told to resist the devil by submitting to God when various temptations come through the devils of many kind (Jam 4:7; 1:12-15). The way to overcome Satan and his evil angels has been revealed to the saints already (Rev 12:9, 11), one is by confessing our known sins to God and getting covered by the blood of the Lamb, and the other is by confessing by the word of our testimony, the truth of what Jesus has done for us by our faith in his blood, to negate the accusing work of Satan and his demons (Rev 12:10), which gives us victory over him and his minions. Once we practice these two points, it shows that we do not love our self-life anymore but are putting it to death and instead receiving the Christ life by faith which we love to live moment by moment for the Glory of God which becomes our victory (1 John 1:7, 9; 5:4-5).
Pray Not To Angels, Nor Ask God For Angels But For Himself To Help Us In All Situations
Any contact we make with the angels, apart from the above described resistance against bad angels temptation to sin will be a cause of concern which the Bible has warned about. The Bible always tells us to focus only on Jesus, only then all the unfallen angels will agree with the word of God to help us worship only Jesus even if we see them in a glorious vision or even in reality, and they will speak against worshiping them but will humbly tell you that they are your servant and the servants of all the Bible believers of faith, through which we can keep ourselves from being deceived by false visions of the fallen angels who always try to act in a deceitful way by transforming themselves as the angel of light to deceive the saints and mislead them in to uselessness for God and His Kingdom (Heb 12:2; Rev 22:9; 2 Cor 11:13-14).
To “ask” the angels to help us, “Invite them” to come, and to “thank them”, etc...are not at all Biblically allowed by God, as these very act is equal to bowing and worshiping these evil beings as god, and will lead us in to deception and worship of angels which is forbidden by God to his children, and it is indeed a abomination to God, the Lord our God has not appointed such things for us because we are His children whom He guards jealously from being led away from Him by false gods which are fallen angels (Col 2:15-19; Deut 32:16-18; 18:9-10, 11-12, 13, 14).
These highly deceptive evil beings trying to pass themselves off as legitimate angels of God, but are in fact when tested according to the directive of God's apostolic words "to test the spirits" (1 John 4:1-2), stands in stark contrast to the Biblical message of humility and obedience by submitting to the Lordship of Jesus Christ and following his humanity as an example to follow (1 Cor 12:3; 1 Pet 2:21-22), and thus show love towards God and fellow erring humans as a outworking of his life within (1 John 4:20-21). The Bible calls such deceptive beings as “demons” and “evil spirits”. They do not serve God, but rather Satan himself, who “… masquerades as an angel of light” along with his fallen angels to deceive people to worship and serve his own end by feeding their desires to their self to become bloated enough to be selfish and rebel against God (2 Cor. 11:14). Involvement with such beings will lead a person away from God and Christ and has the potential to spiritually, and mentally, ruin a person. They usually feeds us with pride and tantalize us with visions of glory to flatter us and make us feel that we are somebody special than all other people around us which is not the right attitude that Christ has taught us to live by (Php 2:3-4, 5-8).
Apostles, Prophets And Teachers Are There To Give Sound Doctrine
As for your example that you have given and asked for clarification, I believe that these evangelists are not following the message of Cross and humility which the Bible teaches, but rather they are deceived to spread a new age message of prosperity to serve their own ends, that is why they teach by telling [everyone] how we should dispatch angels to choose the type of job we want to get, the position we want to be, and the favor we want to enjoy in the place we live to feed the self with pride and be guided in to deception of worship of angels rather than the God who created us for His own glory. Take notice, that they do not teach how to submit to God and make the devils flee, they do not teach how to be humble ourselves before God and fellow humans in order to attract the grace of God, they do not teach how to take up our own cross to deny self and embrace the will of God for us, they do not teach how to please God by loving others as ourselves, etc...they do not teach these core doctrines of the Bible to spread the good news because they are not serving the Lord's Church which is His body, but they are serving themselves and living for their own gain as like they do in the world being an island rather than be in the Body of Christ by submitting to each other in the fear of God (Eph 5:21).
I do not doubt that God cannot reveal his angels to our plain eyes, because I have already shown to you all the Biblical examples where angels were seen by people when they were walking in the will of God, in which the angels were used as messengers, deliverers, guides and as vessels of encouragement to strengthen God's people in their need (Acts 10:3-4, 5; 27:23), but not one time we see these people ask to God for angelic help or speak to the angels for help in their time of need, instead they prayed to God who sent these angels to help them in their time of need (Heb 4:16). Jesus Christ as the very Lord of Hosts had every rights over the angels to command them directly and make them obey his orders from the Cross, but overcame the temptation to call for their help even by calling to the Father God on the Cross against the will of God. In fact if Jesus has called a angel to help him by asking the Father God in heaven, the whole of heaven was ready to help him to be rescued from the cross in a fraction of a second, but the salvation plan would have been aborted by breaking of the will of God in disobedience as in the case of first Adam (Matt 26:53; Rom 5:12). This is the only Biblical pattern set by Jesus for us to follow him by walking in the will of God even if it means we have to sacrifice our very own life on earth to fulfill it for the Glory of God. So we should pray for the will of God to be fulfilled in our life, rather than pray to God to protect us from harm when it is in the will of God, the mother of all temptation is to become fearful and flee away from the will of God to save ourselves. We as the followers of Christ should overcome it by prayer just like He did victoriously in the garden on the Mount of Olives (Luke 22:42; Matt 26:38, 39, 41-42, 44).
Half Truth Is A Deceptive Lie To Deceive You, Always Beware
When someone is telling that the angels are ministering spirits sent to the saved people, so that they can protect them and fulfill whatever need there are for them to be fulfilled, be careful, they are telling only half the truth like Satan did to Jesus when he told to Jesus by quoting from the Scripture to throw Himself down from the pinnacle of the Temple so that angels will bear him up from dashing on the stone down below to protect him from imminent death (Matt 4:5-7). The hidden truth that deception veils is through telling a half truth many times which always ends with a lie, without fail it leads to testing of God's faithfulness rather than trusting in God's faithfulness. To the law and to the testimony: if they speak not according to this word, it is because there is no light in them (Isa 8:20). God doesn't want us to feed ourselves selfishly through fleshly prayers (Jam 4:3-4), but rather wants us to trust Him for our needs, day by day and moment by moment (Matt 6:11).
So I do not even doubt that this Evangelist seeing angels or the Pastor's wife also seeing angels sitting behind him in the stage as God can choose to reveal them when he sends them on gospel assignment to deliver his healing message to the people of God as like in the pool of Bethesda with a sign (John 5:3-4; Acts 23:7-8, 9), but I really doubt and also resist the doctrine which was conveyed through the incident, as it was not really a Biblical one, but rather a new age doctrine of deceit that has no truth in it as you have suspected rightly. This man of God who has seen all the healing by the gifts of the Holy Spirit given to specific individuals to convey the message of the gospel, even if he has seen those angels through which healing began to occur at that point of time, he cannot tell the saints to do the same in their lives based on the vision he has seen because it was a corporate vision for the Church and not for the individual saints (1 Cor 12:8-11). To take a corporate message and make it a personal message to the saints is to totally misinterpret the purpose for which the Lord has given him the vision. The healing gifts operating is for some individuals, and not for all the saints in the Church (1 Cor 12:30), which shows the lack of understanding in him to convey the truth of the message he has seen regarding angels. Rather it was a message of God to impart faith to show him that when he works according to the will of God, more miracles will happen as easily as God intended it to be according to his faith (Mark 6:5-6; Mark 9:23; Matt 9:29; Luke 17:9-10).
I understand that no matter how big an evangelist is, God has specialized them to do the work of the gospel to the unreached and needy people of this world to show how good He is, and is alive to take care of their lives for the rest of the eternity. So I believe that they should be careful when it comes to expressing doctrines to the people of God, they should leave it to the apostles and prophets and teachers of the Word of God to expound it in the right perspective to the people of God (Eph 2:20; 1 Cor 12:28, 29). They as evangelist should stick on to the basic work of preaching Christ "Jesus" to people and introducing Him to them, and directing them to the local churches where God has placed his other ministries to feed the newly born lamb with both milk and later with solid food as he grows in the Lord (Heb 5:12-14; 1 Pet 2:2-3; 1 Cor 3:2-4). That is the one thing the evangelist of the 1st century rightly did, they only focused on preaching the Word of God to the world, and baptized them, then welcomed the apostles to come and establish these new born babes in Christ to be fed with the Spirit and the Word for the Glory of God (Acts 8:4-8, 9-13, 14-25, 35). Now a days evangelist become an island to build a separate empire by themselves which is not a true apostolic pattern. So the Church should also look in our times and seasons to establish the same apostolic pattern of evangelism and discipleship so that we may be able to counter all demonic deceptions that are coming towards the Church to scatter the flocks and weaken them with wrong and demonic doctrines.
The bottom line is, we do not have the power to command angels to fulfill the assignments that we need to fulfill in our lives, but rather we have our God who is our loving Father in Heaven to help us fulfill His assignments He has given us to fulfill on earth after our salvation when we ask Him (Eph 2:10; Matt 7:7; Jam 4:2), because He Himself loves us and has expressed it through giving His only begotten Son to die for us on the Cross to forgive our sins and lead us in to friendship with Himself (John 16:26-27, 23; 3:16; Rom 8:32; 2 Cor 5:18-19, 21).
Much Blessings....