New Commandment Men’s Ministries Blog
Has Anyone Reading This Ever Seen an Angel?
A sermon about angels prompts Herb Reese to remember congregants who described extraordinary encounters: a warning before a car crash and an unseen rescue during a fall. Without claiming certainty about every account, he invites readers to share experiences and consider whether angels still visibly intervene in human lives today.
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18 thoughts on “Has Anyone Reading This Ever Seen an Angel?”
Most likely was, Tiffany. Great story.
Herb
When I was little, maybe 5 or 6 years old, I was very sick and woke up with a person standing next to me that I did not know. I was crying at that time and my dad came running in because he could hear me. My parents didn’t know I was sick, as I had spiked a high fever during the night. The person reached out and touched my forehead and told me I would be ok. They stroked my forehead and kept whispering softly to me. I can’t remember much after that about that incident but my dad told me he never saw anyone standing there. I remember it so very clearly though. From the brown hair to the pretty smile to the shoes they were wearing. I’m convinced it was my guardian angel!
Amazing story, Kristine. It’s amazing that someone can see an angel and still be an unbeliever. But we know from scripture that it happens.
Herb
my best friend was in a car accident on the freeway
with 6 chidren in the car. the car was spinning
and children who were without seatbelts literally
were thrown out of the open windows from the
force of the impact. one girl had to be life flighted
to childrens hospital but the oldest one in the car
was a 16 year old who says that an angel caught
him as he was thrown out the window and lowered
him to the ground without inguries. the two who
had seatbelts had broken bones. my friend who
was driving suffered a broken back and the little
girl who had head injuries and was life flighted
to childrens in critical condition had a miraculous
recovery baffling the doctors. my friend who
was not a believer at the time of the accident
prayed to receive Christ shortly after;) the boy who
says he saw this angel was very skeptical of
religion and to this day is not a believer.
I don’t discredit anyone’s confidence that they have been visibly visited by an angel. At the same time, the writer to the Hebrews says, “Do not neglect to show hospitality to strangers, for in so doing, some have entertained angels without knowing it.” I assume that in showing hospitality to strangers, many of us have indeed encountered angels, without ever knowing it. Perhaps that’s the nature of most angelic visits.
Dear Herb, I wrote this earlier this year after my encounter with an angel
If I met an Angel would I recognize and respond to her?
?And he said to them, ?Which of you who has a friend will go to him at midnight and say to him, ?Friend, lend me three loaves, for a friend of mine has arrived on a journey, and I have nothing to set before him?? Luke 11: 5-6.
The English Standard Version of the Bible mentions angels 282 times. They appear in a variety of circumstances and contexts. The book of Hebrews describes angels as, ??ministering spirits sent out to serve for the sake of those who are to inherit salvation.?(Hebrews 1:14) But in 21st Century America, would I recognize an angel if I saw one or had one speak directly to me. Perhaps our culture has so blinded us that when we see angels they are not recognizable. I expect they don?t look like someone that jumped out of a painting by Raphael, and since we have our earbuds in and our iTunes on mega bass we probably don?t hear the herald trumpets that announce them. Maybe they even have an appearance and a demeanor that might lead even the most churched among us to avoid them.
Was I just visited by an angel?
When she was first spotted at our church, she was praying in the entryway (narthex). It was the Sunday before Christmas and this visitor sought help. She was on a mission to help people recently made homeless by the fires in Gatlinburg, Tennessee. She had a list of people in need– two firemen, two policemen, and a pastor. All had fought the fires, and while doing so lost their homes, cars, and all their possessions. The pastor lost his church. Would ours be a church that would help, she prayed? As a church officer, I listened, wrote down the information she provided, and told her we would see what we could do. She seemed satisfied with that. Ours was one of many churches she visited that day. Later I learned she worked in our city during the week and spent her weekends ministering to those in need in Gatlinburg. She donated her car, persuaded one of her children to donate their car, and set about finding other ways to meet the needs of these hurting people.
As I write this narrative, I should make it clear that this angel, I?ll call her Sally, had a purpose much larger than just visiting me. She was on a mission to minister and to serve. And, like the angels of scripture she was not always happy. Angels are a discerning bunch. Consider the three angels that visited Abram on the way to Sodom; they listened, they could be persuaded, they could even be delayed. But they remained true to their objective.
Sally?s visit was very much like the ?Knock at Midnight? referred to in Luke 11. She was an intercessor, who having nothing, sought bread for friends in need. In his 1964 sermon, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. used that knock at midnight as a metaphor for the social ills of his day, defining the three requested loaves as the bread of faith, the bread of hope, and the bread of love. He said that many seeking that bread had been bitterly disappointed, but they still continue to knock on doors of our churches during the midnights of their lives.
Sally knocked on the doors of a number of churches seeking support for the needy in Gatlinburg. Her heart ached for them. She returned to the campgrounds every weekend to spend time with them, minister to them, live with them and to share their hardships. She was in earnest at every church she went to for support. When she returned to our church, I was a little embarrassed to tell her that it was taking time to work through our processes to get some funding approved. Processes have their place, but Sally succeeded in transferring some of her ?knock at midnight? earnestness on me. And like the friend in Luke 11, I found her persistence compelling. Later, hearing that we would respond, she met me with joy and tears in her eyes, because apparently none of the other churches that heard her knock had even hinted at responding.
Here was Sally, who, like Jesus, had no form or majesty that I should take notice of her, and no particular beauty that I should be attracted to her (Isaiah 53:2). She didn?t arrive at our church in a late model car. She had donated hers to one of the first responders and was driving around in a ?beater? that she normally left running for fear it would not start again. But her countenance was compelling and what was most visible was her heart. That few churches responded she found discouraging, but she remained undaunted. She would just shake the dust of her shoes and move on. A few weeks into my encounter with Sally, after our church had provided some one-time support to the five people Sally interceded for, she related me another interaction she had with a member of our church. The exchange was not positive. She discerned the absence of a focus on service and caring, and decided it was time to move on. She told me I would not hear from her again.
So what do I take away from my encounter with Sally? Was she an angel? Perhaps. I know there are some people in Gatlinburg who see her as their own personal angel. Hebrews 13:2 tells us not to neglect to show hospitality to strangers, because by doing so, some have entertained angels unawares. So when I met her the first time, perhaps I should have been more responsive. Our church responded to the need that she identified, albeit somewhat slowly, and perhaps a little too deliberately, but our response, was a good one. Still, I think she interpreted that we were not ready to meet a greater need that she saw as urgent. Sometimes, I think angels like Sally are sent to inform us of the work that the Lord has prepared for us. We are given that work is an opportunity and a responsibility, and like the worker in Matthew 25 who buried his talent, when we fail to respond to that work, in the end the talent (or work) is taken away and given to someone else, and our angel?like Sally?just moves on.
?For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.? Ephesians 2:10 ESV
I had gone through a brutal battle with the church. It was incredibly brutal but God revealed himself in ways I had never experienced. I had decided to resign but still struggled with it. A group of us gathered at my house for prayer. There was a knock on the front door (which no one comes to). My wife answered she yelled for me to come to the door when I got there no one was there.
My wife said this man came and told me, “Let your husband know he made the right decision.” I said, “wait here I know he would want to talk to you.” The man replied, “I have to go.” My wife asked him who are you. He replied, “I am an angel.” Then he was gone.
You have to know the whole story to realize the absolute blessing of that encounter.
Thank you so much for sharing this, Jim. I’m sure there will be many other pastors who will be encouraged by your story.
Herb
I always enjoy anything you write because you are such a good one. You are no doubt familiar with Billy Graham’s very old book on angels. He is definitely not a wingnut and the stories he shares in that book will stay with you forever.
Vicki
I remember the book, Vicki. But I never read it. I’ll have to get it.
Herb
Herb! I was with a team of climbers looking for Noah’s Ark on Mt. Ararat in 1985. We were attacked around midnight by PKK guerillas and marched down the mountain at gunpoint. At about 10,000 feet altitude we stopped and they began to search our belongings. Two of us were seated in the background on some rocks when a man with very blue eyes (whom we had never seen) and dressed like the local Kurds came and covered us with a blanket as it was very cold. In a few minutes we were told to line up (all five of us) while two of the terrorists lined up in front of us with rifles which they pointed at us. All of a sudden out of the darkness one of the terrorists pointed at the sky to his fellow terrorists and then shouted to us to go home.
Excellent, Bill!
What are angels supposed to look like? I only thought I knew, and then TaJuana stepped into our lives one Saturday morning.
The church my wife and I founded was still small; we were renting space in a small strip mall, next to a gym. My wife went to the church the sunny Saturday morning and saw what looked like an African-American homeless, toothless lady sitting in front of the church, hidden from view. She immediately called me.
Upon arriving, Debbi was engaged in a conversation with TaJuana, which would ultimately last for two hours. She told us of things about which only we knew. She finished our sentences and quoted countless Scriptures. She accurately knew our hearts, encouraged us and told us of things to come. She told us of human trafficking in our area, which was revealed in the press two weeks later. We thought we would be ministering to a homeless person, but in the end she ministered to us in a huge way. We gave her food, although she assured us she didn’t need it.
There are a thousand details about this story which convinced us TaJuana was sent to us from God. When she left, I followed behind her about to-15 feet. I stepped outside to see which way she would go; she was no where to be found.
Some angels are messengers from God. This was certainly our experience.
Sure sounds like an angel to me, Pastor Cantu.
Hey, Herb! Alas, I did not see the angel who saved my life when I was about ten. It was behind me, and pulled me up and out of the way of an approaching car. I would have been killed or horribly wounded. I felt the hand on my right shoulder, but when I looked behind me to see who had saved me, no one was close enough to have done it. Still haven’t forgotten that almost sixty years later. Eager to meet that one someday! Blessings, Lin
Hey Linda, great story! Thanks for sharing that. So glad you’re still around because of that angel.
Thanks for this wonderful story, Trudie! Isn’t it wonderful to know we have God’ s mighty angels watching over us?
Yes, I have seen an Angel.
I was 21 years of age. It was a Monday and I was heading to work. It was raining so hard that I could barely see the hood ornament on the car. The two tires that were put on my car 3 days prior blew out while I was on the freeway. Panic set in as the car was hurtling toward a big bridge support. Bouncing off the bridge support I was thrown back across the freeway into the concrete divider where the drivers door was torn off as I slid along the divider. I prayed to God to help and protect me. That was when an Angel came and told me not to be afraid as this was not my day to die. Panic decreased enough so I could think and act.
I was instructed to get the car under control so as not to hurt anyone. This was all happening in a break in traffic but cars were coming up on me. I pulled the steering wheel to get away from the divider and headed into another bridge support on the opposite side of the freeway. The steering wheel and column snapped off as I was thrown to the floor on the passenger side. My head slammed into the dashboard where I broke my jaw and neck.
When the car was bouncing off the 2nd bridge support I grabbed the keys and turned off the engine and said you’re not going anywhere.
I was still holding the broken off steering wheel and half the column in my hands.
While I was travelling back and forth across the freeway I wondered if I was hallucinating the Angel. I could hear the Angel speaking in my brain but not audibly. My logical mind said I was feeling the cold and the rain so I was conscious. Accept the fact your are seeing an Angel. I only saw it out of my peripheral vision. If I turned my head to look straight at it, I could not see it. It first appeared as a brilliant pinprick of light and grew to about the size of a softball. It was as intense as the sun. As the accident ended, the Angel grew smaller till it was a pinprick then was gone. The Angel kept reassuring me and advising me through the ordeal. I did feel some peace in spite of what was happening as I was told I would survive.
A nurse was coming home from work and stopped to give me aid. Another motorist went to call the highway patrol. This was before cell phones. The 20 something patrolman arrived and looked at the outside of the car. You could see him stiffening his body as he prepared to look into the car.
The shocked look on his face when he saw me sitting up on the seat was unmistakable. Once he could talk, he said “May I ask you a question?”. I assumed he was going to ask me how the accident happened. I was going into deeper shock and did not want to talk, but said yes. He asked “What are you doing alive?” It was then I knew for certain I had met an angel. God had answered my prayers that day without delay.