Do We Become Angels When We Die?

Image courtesy of Just2Shutter / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Last time, we talked about whether or not angels have wings.

This time, I want to talk about something that bothers me more and matters more than if angels have wings or not.

Do we become angels when we die? 

My answer:  absolutely not.  I understand this might stir up a lot of anger, and I want to remind everyone that I'm not saying that we don't go to heaven when we die.  I'm just saying we don't become angels.

Angels Existed Before Anyone Died

We don't know exactly when God created angels, but I believe it was sometime before Adam and Eve were removed from the garden of Eden.  Satan, who is a fallen angel, was in the garden in the form of a snake, tempting Eve to disobey God's instructions about the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.

Furthermore, we know that they existed before anyone died.  Death did not occur until Adam and Eve's son Cain murdered his brother Abel.

Age and Gender

Angels are never described in the Bible as children or women but as full-grown adult men.  I suppose one might argue that only adult male angels take messages to people from heaven, but it makes more sense, especially with our other evidence, to believe that angels are either mature, male beings, or, more likely, genderless and ageless spiritual beings that present themselves as adult men.

Salvation is not for Angels

Hebrews 2:16 says, "For assuredly He does not give help to angels, but He gives help to the descendant of Abraham."  (NASB).

Hebrews 1:14 says, "Are they not all ministering spirits, sent out to render service for the sake of those who will inherit salvation?"  (NASB).

1 Peter 1:12 says, "It was revealed to them that they were not serving themselves, but you, in these things which now have been announced to you through those who preached the gospel to you by the Holy Spirit sent from heaven--things into which angels long to look."  (NASB).

The Bible makes it clear that angels are not going to receive salvation.  Christ did not die for angels.  Christ's sacrifice was for sinful man, and angels are intended to serve Him and us.

It is a nice scene to imagine, our friends and family members that we've lost, living in heaven as angels, serving God and serving us.  But that's just not quite what the Bible tells us.  

For those who have received salvation, death does mean being in the presence of God, but being in God's presence does not mean that we are angels.

"We are of good courage, I say, and prefer rather to be absent from the body and to be at home with the Lord."  2 Corinthians 5:8 (NASB).

Because mankind has such a spectacular role in all of this as recipients of the greatest gift ever given, I find it insulting when someone relegates us into a different role, one that does not receive that gift.

Remember that recognizing that humans do not become angels is not a step down; it is a step into our rightful place.

An Interview, a Movie, and a Surprise!

Image courtesy of Stuart Miles / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

I have to say that this week was pretty normal for the most part, except for the times it was awesome.

Yesterday evening I had an interview for a part time job at the mall.  I'll tell you where, if I get it.  The interview was with the assistant manager, and she acted like it went really well, so I'm hoping to hear from the manager sometime this week.  That reminds me that I need to get a thank you note in the mail Monday morning!  

Whether at the place I interviewed last night or somewhere else, I'm hoping to work between 10-20 hours a week, between evenings and weekends shifts.  Having two jobs is going to be rough, but I'm looking forward to gaining a little more traction on getting medical bills and student loans paid off.  In the past couple years, we've paid off two credit cards, which is awesome, but we have a long way to go before we become debt free.  If you've worked a second job before, I would love to hear any tips you might have.


After my interview, my husband and I went to the drive-in to watch Man of Steel.  It has been quite a while since we've been to the drive-in, so it was a lot of fun, and the movie was great.


The most unexpected highlight of my week, though, was Thursday.  I received an email from one of my favorite authors.  I had commented on one of her blog posts several months ago, and now she is publishing a book based on that series of posts.  She asked if I would give permission for her to include my comment in her book.  Of course, I couldn't deny her that!  In a few months, I'll be receiving a signed copy of the book.  Once the book shows up on Amazon, I'll make sure to link to it so you can get a copy of it for yourself.




What were the highlights of your week?

Genesis 2:15

Image courtesy of SweetCrisis / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

The tree of knowledge of good and evil is an interesting allegory for the moral challenges all of us face each day. The story not only captures the attention of Christians, but has permeated secular culture as well. There’s no doubt that it’s an important lesson.

However, even though the preceding verse is no less the word of God, it gets less attention. It’s where God takes man into the Garden of Eden and tells him it’s his job to take care of it. It’s our job as the creations of the Lord to look after what he put on earth.

How are We Doing?

A cursory look around the world really shows how much we as the caretakers of God’s green earth aren’t really paying as much attention to this particular responsibility. Of course, the idea isn’t to go to the opposite extreme and become so protective of nature that we can’t exercise the free will we have been given. There’s something else, a small detail that often escapes us.

It’s kind of hard to care about God’s creatures when one of them is buzzing around and intent on sucking your blood. It’s a common question among children and adults: why did God make mosquitoes? I could use any pest as an example, but mosquitoes seem to be everywhere.

Is It a Test?

A simple response would be that God works in mysterious ways, and that they are there to test our faith by being a challenge. At least that’s the standard response when someone doesn’t know God’s plan and doesn’t want to admit it.

Of course, only God can know His plan, so there shouldn’t be any shame in admitting, “I don’t know.” Well, I don’t! But here’s the thing: the logic behind questioning why God created mosquitoes is rather selfish: They bother me, so why did God make something that annoys me?

Do Unto Others

Well, you and I are not the center of the universe; God is. More specifically, God created a wonderfully diverse ecology and put us in charge of preserving it for Him. It’s not up to us to judge what deserves to be taken care of and what isn’t.

On the other hand, that doesn’t mean we should let them run rampant. As the caretakers of the Earth, we have to keep each species in its place. Just because God created it, it doesn’t mean He wants it to annoy us and give us diseases. Swatting them when they bite, putting out the best mosquito traps, protecting ourselves and our loved ones from disease are all examples of keeping mosquitoes where they belong.

The bottom line is that Earth is not supposed to be a paradise; it’s what we endure before we get there. And on Earth, we’ve got a job to do, part of which involves dealing with pests like mosquitos.



Michelle is a blogger and freelancer. She’s written about almost every topic under the sun, from 
mosquito traps to private investigators, and loves constantly learning about new subjects and 
industries while she’s writing. Whenever she’s able to step away from her computer she enjoys 
spending time outdoors with her dogs.

Do Angels Have Wings?

Image courtesy of Michal Marcol / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

When you think of angels, it is very likely that the image in your mind is similar to the picture above.  But do angels really have wings?

While several prophetic visions in the Bible describe some heavenly creatures as having wings, any time an angel appears to a human, the angel is not described as having wings.

In the book of Joshua, an angel appears to Joshua just before the battle of Jericho:

"Now it came about when Joshua was by Jericho, that he lifted up his eyes and looked, and behold, a man was standing opposite him with his sword drawn in his hand, and Joshua went to him and said to him, 'Are you for us or for our adversaries?' He said, 'No; rather I indeed come now as captain of the host of the Lord.'  And Joshua fell on his face to the earth, and bowed down, and said to him, 'What has my lord to say to his servant?'  The captain of the Lord's host said to Joshua, 'Remove your sandals from your feet, for the place where you are standing is holy.'  And Joshua did so."   Joshua 5:13-15 (NASB)

It seems to me that if the angel looked how we imagine an angel to look like, Joshua wouldn't have asked him what side he was on.  Rather, he was approached by a stranger, a normal-looking man, and he needed to know if they were coming from Jericho as a spy or to being a sneak attack.

On the other hand, Daniel gave this description of an angel that he saw.

"I lifted my eyes and looked, and behold, there was a certain man dressed in linen, whose waist was girded with a belt of pure gold of Uphaz.  His body also was like beryl, his face had the appearance of lightning, his eyes were like flaming torches, his arms and feet like the gleam of polished bronze, and the sound of his words like the sound of a tumult."  Daniel 10:5-6 (NASB).

This angel certainly looks different from Joshua's angel, but again, we don't have any wings.  This angel is beautifully dressed.  He looks otherworldly, and maybe even dangerous, nothing like the pretty, relatively harmless-looking angels we have in our minds.

Does it really matter what we think angels look like?  Very few people in the Bible had encounters with angels, so it is unlikely we will ever see one this side of heaven.  In spite of that, we should keep in mind that form follows function.  Angels aren't meant to stand around looking peaceful and pretty.  Angels are the messengers and warriors of God.  If we think of angels as soft and gentle, we are missing the mark.  More often, angels are startling and intimidating.  They are good, but they are not soft.

It may be difficult to think of angels as not having wings and looking more like warriors than the sweet, gentle beings we are used to seeing.  These images have been ingrained in us through movies, books, and other aspects of our culture.  I don't think it necessarily hurts if someone has an inaccurate image of an angel in his or her mind, but seeing God's angels as mighty warriors is more encouraging to me than imagining fluffy white wings and a white robe.

What thoughts do you have about what angels look like?  Where do you think those ideas come from?

Where in the world is . . . ?

Carmen San Diego?

If you remember Carmen San Diego, you deserve a high five.



But actually the question you're probably wondering is where in the world I have been since Easter!


To be perfectly honest, after a year of pushing pretty hard with this blog, between writing, searching for guest bloggers, and publicizing in various places, I went through a pretty severe burnout.  I found myself overwhelmed with all of it, to the point that even putting words to paper felt impossible.



Then at the end of April, my husband started having severe indigestion (or so we thought).  We shouldn't have waited as long as we did, but after a few days, we decided he needed to go to the urgent care clinic to get a prescription or something, since the OTC medicines we had been using were not helping.  The clinic decided to do an EKG, and when it looked somewhat abnormal, but not significantly so, they decided he should go to the ER to have them check it out just in case.

After another EKG and bloodwork in the ER, it was determined that he was having or had already had a heart attack.  I never actually learned which.  He was admitted to the hospital and quickly taken to see if he had a blockage, and when they discovered a blockage in one of the more minor arteries of his heart, they immediately placed a stent.  The doctor gave us before and after images of the artery, and the difference is shocking, once the doctor explained what we were seeing.

We spent the next three nights at the hospital for monitoring, and he was discharged the last Friday of April with a stack of new prescriptions and instructions to show up for cardiac rehab the next week.

He is doing amazingly well.  We've changed his diet, though we had already done that to some degree before the heart attack.  His blood sugar (he is Type II diabetic) has been amazing.  And the cardiologist said that his heart received no damage at all.  I find that pretty amazing, and I feel like God was all over this.  It was a scary time, but I think that this happened to scare us into making more significant changes so that something worse won't happen in the future.



I have started looking for a second job.  I work about 40 hours a week, and Adrian works at least 40 hours a week, but our student loan debt is just not dropping as quickly as I would like.  On top of that, we also have whatever medical bills we have left over after insurance covers their part.  It's been two weeks since he was released, and I still haven't seen a bill, so I'm slightly hopeful that maybe insurance covered everything, but it's more likely that everything has just not gone through the system yet.  Working an extra 15-20 hours a week doesn't exactly appeal to me, but I think I can handle it for a while to put us on a more stable footing.  We don't have children yet, and I want to be able to stay at home when we do, so it makes sense to put in some extra time now.  I have put in applications at about a half dozen places so far, but I haven't heard anything back yet.  I would appreciate your prayers about that.



I've started working on the post about angels that I promised way too long ago, and I hope to have it finished before much longer.  I don't plan on keeping up a rigorous publishing schedule like I was before, but I hope to be consistently offering you something, even if it isn't as often as before.  Once I am able to find a second job, I'm not sure how often I will be posting, at least until I get into a rhythm with the new schedule.



Thank you all for sticking around through all this rambling.  I could keep going, but I'm about to head out with my husband to listen to some music tonight!  I hope you all are having a fantastic weekend!

Halos, Harps, and Fluffy Clouds

Image courtesy of AKARAKINGDOMS / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

I watched the first part of the History Channel's series on the Bible earlier this week.

There were several things that made me laugh out loud, such as Noah's Scottish accent, and there were also things that made me cringe a little, such as almost completely skipping the entire story of Jacob.

But one thing they had nicely on target were the angels.

When God, likely in the form of Jesus, as the History Channel implied, showed up at Abraham's camp.  He had two men - angels - with Him.  They did not have wings nor halos.  

After their meeting at Abraham's camp. the two angels proceeded to Sodom, where Abraham's nephew was living.

The two angels were not seen as special or out of the ordinary, but only as fresh meat for the townspeople's debauchery.

But when it was time, all hell broke loose.

The two angels shed their cloaks, and underneath were not feathery wings but armor.

The two fought against the people of Sodom as they lead Lot's family out of the town, to save them from the coming punishment.

I was pleasantly surprised by these warrior angels, but I wonder how many were confused.

Next week I am going to post a study on angels and how we came to the ideas we have of them.

For now, I would like to know what you think about angels or what you thought of them as a child.

And don't forget to watch the next four installments of The Bible on the History Channel.  It first airs at 7:00 Central time on Sunday nights during March, but I have found it repeated during the week, so check your listings and set your DVR!

Water, Water Everywhere, and Not a Drop to Drink

I grew up in a town that has a church on nearly every single corner.

And when my husband and I relocated for grad school, our new town was no different, with a church on nearly every single corner.

It has been easy to think that the gospel has saturated the people around me and that if they are not Christians, it is not for lack of opportunity or knowledge.

Today, though, I came face-to-face with the realization that, even in a place so permeated by those who claim to be the people of God, there are still people who are completely in the dark.



I've known for a while that this person is hostile toward the church.  It makes me sad to hear her comments and opinions about the bride of Christ, and even more so when the people of God do things that only serve to make her more resolute in her ideas.

But now, I am startled to realize that all she knows of Christ and His church is what she has seen of His people.

It makes me wonder how many times I have been a good or a bad representative of Christ to someone who has only seen Jesus through His followers.

I've often heard the quote, "You may the only Bible some people will ever read," but I never thought that it was completely true.  I never imagined that someone, at least in our culture, would be so completely void of the knowledge of the gospel.  Understanding that has made me realize just how important my day-to-day actions are to the people around me.




What experiences have you had with people who are unknowledgable or resistant to the gospel?  What tips would you have for being a better witness to these people?