I see angels everywhere - the gift of sight - Rethink

Recently we've been reconsidering many of the things we thought we understood regarding doctrine and faith. We have begun to question certain beliefs, church structures, and practices of the western church. Too often we have discovered unbiblical doctrines and activities. This causes us concern. We have deemed this our “rethink.”

Our questions include, how did we arrive at our doctrines? Does the Bible really teach what we think it teaches? Why do churches do what they do? What is the biblical basis of church leadership structure? Why do certain traditions get entrenched?

It's easy to be spoon fed the conventional wisdom, but it's an entirely separate thing to search these things out for one's self. In the past we have read the Bible with these unexamined understandings and interpreted what we read through those lenses. We were lazy about our Bible study, assuming that pastors and theologians were telling us the truth, but we rarely checked it out for ourselves.

Therefore, these Rethinks are our attempt to remedy the situation.

We should note that we are not Bible scholars, but we believe that one doesn't need to be in order to understand the Word of God.

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Introduction

It seems like spiritual encounters are on the increase. At least in our sphere of acquaintances, more and more people are having experiences like meeting angels, visiting heaven, talking to Jesus face-to-face, or even seeing demons or the devil himself. 

There's even a name for some of these experiences (given by skeptics): Heavenly tourism. 

Now, we will concede that we had an experience ourselves. However, our experience was a vision of sorts. We did not actually go to heaven or converse with OT prophets or NT apostles. 

So, what are we to make of these experiences? How do we know they are real? What value are they? We are going to attempt to answer at least some of these questions.

Celestial Beings - Doxa

As we peruse scripture we see many kinds of heavenly beings, including angels, seraphim, cherubim, and a couple of cryptic references to Celestial Beings (literally, "glorious ones"): 

Jude 8-9 In the very same way, these dreamers pollute their own bodies, reject authority and slander celestial beings. 9 But even the archangel Michael, when he was disputing with the devil about the body of Moses, did not dare to bring a slanderous accusation against him, but said, “The Lord rebuke you!”

2Pe. 2:10-11 This is especially true of those who follow the corrupt desire of the sinful nature and despise authority. Bold and arrogant, these men are not afraid to slander celestial beings; 11 yet even angels, although they are stronger and more powerful, do not bring slanderous accusations against such beings in the presence of the Lord.

"Celestial beings" is the Greek word doxa: 

angels are called doxa as being spiritual beings of preeminent dignity... opinion, estimate, whether good or bad, concerning some one; good opinion concerning one, and as resulting from that, praise, honor, glory.

They are beings arrayed in splendor, magnificent in appearance. But they are not necessarily holy. These celestial beings possess glory (doxa), but even though they aren't as powerful as the angels, we see that the angels respect them. And clearly these particular celestial beings are not holy, for otherwise, how would angels have the potential to bring slanderous accusations against them?

"Slander" is blasphémeó, which is in this context means, to be evil spoken of, reviled, railed at... So whether a celestial being is good or bad, it is clear that they are not to be slandered or taken lightly. No encounter with a celestial being can be characterized as casual.

The Gift of Sight

Some Christians claim to possess the gift of sight, that is, the ability to see and have encounters with spiritual beings like angels, demons, or even deceased persons. The Bible does not explicitly mention the gift of sight. There are accounts of heavenly encounters in  both the OT and the NT, and both Paul and John describe either going to heaven or having a vision of spiritual forces.

Like all spiritual gifts, the gift of sight, if real, functions primarily in the gathering of the saints for the purpose of edification. And like all other spiritual gifts, this gift is not an indicator of spiritual maturity or special rank. 

One seer we've just learned of is Micah Turnbo, who is found all over youtube, and claims to have met and talked to numerous celestial beings, Jesus, and also dead Bible characters. 

Mr. Turnbo has a gentle demeanor and seems very sincere. But regardless of the engaging manner of this man, we require the opportunity to test his claims. There are certain criteria that must be satisfied:

• How do we know he's actually had these experiences? Well, we have no reason to doubt him. But cannot know for sure.
• How do we know that the beings he's encountered are really who they say they are? Again, we only have Mr. Turnbo's word. We certainly do know that spiritual beings have the ability to change their appearance. We don't know and cannot discover who Mr. Turnbo really encountered.
• His claims are not unbiblical, but they are abiblical. We therefore cannot test them against Scripture.
• Spiritual fruit: Do these revelations and accounts cause the hearer to live more obediently, to be more generous, to worship more adequately, or to be more generous? In other words, do they edify? 
• Multiple witnesses: One Bible test is that every matter is established by two or three witnesses. This is not multiple people having experiences, this is multiple people having the same experience at the same time, or a seer having confirmation from another person.

In addition, a serious red flag is Mr. Turnbo's conversations with dead people. The Bible says, 

De. 18:10-11 Let no-one be found among you who sacrifices his son or daughter in the fire, who practices divination or sorcery, interprets omens, engages in witchcraft, 11 or casts spells, or who is a medium or spiritist or who consults the dead.

There are also other factors that might come to bear on a case by case basis.

Encountering Celestial Beings

On one hand, we think it is quite possible that we encounter disguised angels:

Heb. 13:2 Do not forget to entertain strangers, for by so doing some people have entertained angels without knowing it.

But the writer of Hebrews tells us we do not know they are angels. Further, the purpose of the instruction is to encourage kindness and generosity.

On the other hand, Paul wrote to the Ephesian church to explain why we wear our spiritual armor. Eph. 6:12:

For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.

There are spiritual entities at work in the heavenly realms (epouranios, the heavenly regions... the lower heavens, or the heaven of the clouds... We discuss this passage in some detail here. These celestial beings are evil, and we war against them dressed in our spiritual armor. We do not entertain them.

It should be apparent that any spiritual encounter might not be as it appears. If we have an encounter, we should not assume these celestial beings are are who they say they are. Paul told the Corinthian church about evil entities that are pretending to be something else:

2Co. 11:14 And no wonder, for Satan himself masquerades as an angel of light. 15 It is not surprising, then, if his servants masquerade as servants of righteousness.

These beings will lie to you. They will seem kind, gentle, beautiful, helpful, and holy, but they will deceive you, and maneuver you right out of the faith if they could.

We must reiterate, a spiritual experience may not be as it seems. 

Conclusion

There is quite an array of celestial beings, with glory, power, and position. Even evil powers have some version of these things. We shall not fear the power of the dark forces, but shall rather worship the Living God in the presence of His glory, and pray for the final defeat of the evil celestial ones.

In the absence of compelling evidence, we have decided we shall not entertain the visions of seers.

Col. 2:18 Do not let anyone who delights in false humility and the worship of angels disqualify you for the prize. Such a person goes into great detail about what he has seen, and his unspiritual mind puffs him up with idle notions.