"God does not use angels to accomplish His purposes." An analysis

A FB friend posted this quote, attributed to David Wilkerson: "God uses people. God uses people to perform His work. He does not send angels. Angels weep over it, but God does not use angels to accomplish His purposes. He uses burdened broken-hearted weeping men and women."

I don't accept things as easily as I used to. This quote, while seemingly insightful, struck me as odd. The person who posted it was, I believe, using it to encourage believers to serve God. That is noble and good. There is no doubt that God's people are prone to inaction and antipathy.

But there is something wrong as we continue reading past the first sentence. wilkerson appears to be suggesting that God will only use His people, and then only His people who are weeping and brokenhearted. I certainly accept that God has a unique and powerful calling to His Church to be His body, to do the things He has called us to, and to make a difference in this world. He has anointed His people, He dwells within them, He speaks to them and through them. Quite right.

However, we also know that God uses the ungodly, He uses animals, He uses weather and nature, and He even uses dark forces to accomplish His will. He brings calamity and pours out blessing. All things are in His hand, and every knee will bow. God is not a victim of happenstance. He is certainly not powerless outside the realm of His people.

And yes, God uses His angels. They're all over the Bible, doing battle, functioning as messengers, ministering to God's people. They're quite specifically being used by God to accomplish His purpose. There are dozens of mentions of angels doing all sorts of things. The Bible even refers to heavenly hosts. The term "hosts" translates as "armies." This begs the question, why would God have armies of angels, if they don't execute His purposes?

We now see that this is a bit more complicated. So what is Wilkerson really talking about? I searched around to find the context of the quote. Happily, I found the entire sermon posted here. The topic of Wilkerson's sermon is the backslidden Church, the Church that has compromised, that tolerates sin in its midst and accepts false teaching. Specifically, Wilkerson names the prosperity doctrine. Wilkerson's sermon has nothing at all to do with Christian service! It has everything to do with those who will take up the call to stand for Truth and Righteousness, those who will not tolerate false teaching, those who will weep over the sins of the Church and intercede for it.

And now we understand what Wilkerson is speaking about. He is not saying that only God's people are used by Him. Wilkerson is calling the Church to do its specific job. Only the people of God can deal with the problems in the Church. They are called to do this. The angels aren't.