Angels Among Us

Angels Among Us!

Are not all angels ministering spirits sent to serve those who will inherit salvation? Hebrews 1:14 KJV

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

For it is written: "He will command his angels concerning you to guard You carefully;" Luke 4:10 KJV

AH! Angels, those mysterious spiritual beings created by God in eternity past to serve Him and sing praises to His holy name. They have intrigued us for thousands of years, they fill the pages of the Bible as His messengers and warriors sent to give us His words and guard us. We picture them as these beautiful, innocent beings with wings as they fly around doing God's bidding. We find in the above scriptures they are ministering spirits who have been commanded by God to keep guard over those who will inherit salvation.

I have read literally hundreds of stories where people claim angels have interjected themselves into the lives or circumstances of someone to help them. Therefore with my belief in angels and the above scriptures coupled with my knowledge that when it comes to God and His dealing with His children there are no coincidences, (A coincidence is the miracle that man does not give God credit for), I would like to put forth the following theory:

Somewhere in eternity past we are told that Lucifer beguiled a third of the angels into believing they could become Gods and left their first estate, some to be kept in chains till judgment day and some who became devils as followers of Satan. We find a good deal of scripture in the New Testament where Christ cast the devils from those they had indwelled so we know these fallen angels, now devils, would enter the bodies of humans.

Matthew 8:28-32 KJV ²⁸And when he was come to the other side into the country of the Gergesenes, there met him two possessed with devils, coming out of the tombs, exceeding fierce, so that no man might pass by that way. ²⁹And, behold, they cried out, saying, What have we to do with thee, Jesus, thou Son of God? art thou come hither to torment us before the time? ³⁰And there was a good way off from them an herd of many swine feeding. ³¹So the devils besought him, saying, If thou cast us out, suffer us to go away into the herd of swine. ³²And he said unto them, Go. And when they were come out, they went into the herd of swine: and, behold, the whole herd of swine ran violently down a steep place into the sea, and perished in the waters.

Now I can find no scripture where angels have ever indwelled humans, only devils, but it follows logically that if devils who were once angels can indwell humans and animals, that angels may have the ability to indwell animals. However, I don't believe God allows angels to indwell humans which is the job of the Holy Spirit to those whom have accepted Christ as their Saviour. I come to this conclusion because of the thousands of stories you can find where animals (especially dogs but not limited to dogs as cats, horses, pigs and many other animals) have done extraordinary feats in saving the lives of their human owners. Stories of the incredible loyalty and devotion found in some animals, a quality of pure love that goes beyond being thankful for the food and care they were given. A quality of the purest love that can only be found in heaven.

In researching information about pets and their ability to effect the lives of humans I have found so much information that it would be impossible to list everything so I will give some examples and some links to web sites for you to browse.

Pets are good for Kids:
Positive self-esteem is enhanced in children when owning a pet; they are more self-confident. (Source: Delta Society/ Bergensen, 1989)

Children who suffer from attention deficit disorder (ADD) are able to focus on a pet, which helps them learn how to concentrate. (Source: Love, Miracles and Animal healing. Schoen, 1996)

Kids who own pets have lower heart rates/blood pressure at physical exams. (Source: Veterinary Medical Association)

Pets are good for adults:

Pets increase the survival rate of heart attack victims; 28% of heart patients with pets survived serious heart attacks compared to only 6% without pets. (Source: Ontario Veterinary Medical Assoc.)

Pets can help human's combat loneliness, depression, and other emotional problems-even something as common as stress. (Source: animaltherapy.net)

Pets help Alzheimer's patients by bringing them back to the present. (Source: Love, Miracles and Animal Healing. Schoen, 1996

The Healing Power of Pets by www.drmartinwilliams.com

True life Lassie dogs: http://ncnc.essortment.com/lassiedogs_ppw.htm

Heroic Feline stories: http://www.moggies.co.uk/html/heroic_felines.html

The Oprah Winfrey Show featured segments from: "It's a Miracle" On PAX TV with stories of how animals saved their owners lives. Here's one story: Annette adopted Norman, a blind yellow lab, from the pound. The beach is the only place he can run free because he is blind. One day, as Annette and Norman were walking along the beach, Norman cocked his ear and took off running. He heard something no one else could here-the cries of someone in trouble. Lisa, 15, had been swimming with her brother and got caught in the current. Norman swam toward her cries, and with Annette's voice guiding him, pulled Lisa back to shore. Lisa considers Norman her guardian Angel.

Bear with me just a little longer; the best is yet to come. CBS News on 60 minutes http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2005/01/06/60minutes/printable665263.shtml This I find is the most amazing of miracles so far. As a cancer survivor myself I find great comfort in knowing that dogs are saving people's lives by sniffing out their cancer, sometimes even before tests run by Doctors can find it.

All of this has a most important point I would like to make: What an amazing God we have, to give us the great gift of angels to watch over us in whatever form they take. We call these strange happenings Miracles but God's word says it was all in His plan from the beginning of Creation, just like sending His only begotten Son to pay for our iniquities so we could spend eternity in heaven with Him.

There is no scripture that tells us that guardian angels indwell animals, only that God commanded His angels to guard those who will inherit salvation carefully. I just find it interesting that animals who live by instinct alone would ignore that instinct and put themselves in danger to save the lives of humans. I don't find it hard to believe that anything is impossible with God because I recognize that God loves His creation more than we could ever understand.

Although this is only a theory of mine I would suggest that if you have an animal that loves you, treat it well. It might just end up saving your life someday!

I would like to thank our dear friends Pam and Leroy, faithful friends from our youth, who sent me a story that inspired me to write the above story. I had forgotten until they reminded me that God spelled backward is dog. (Just a coincidence?)

Bob Goulding © June 2007