Friday, March 28, 2008

A Close Look at Angels

Down through the ages, millions of people famous and otherwise have felt the grace and uplifting power of angels. I have decided to tell you about angels because these beautiful and inspiring beings have been a large part of my life and perhaps yours. They are always with us whether we actually see them or not. We are living in a time when invisible helpers have become popular and actually visible. While angels have always been with us, it is almost as if we just discovered them. There are thousands of people from all walks of life who have been helped, guided, literally saved, inspired or comforted by embodiments of goodness, generosity and hope. People are eager to reveal their close encounters.

Stories of visions and firsthand experiences with angels have been around since the earliest days of written history. All the major religions of the world...Hinduism, Judaism, Taoism, Buddhism, Christianity, Islam , Zoroastrianism and the visions of Shamans accept angels as an intervening force between a Supreme Power and the human race. Religious scholars, in general, simply say the number of angels is too great to count. Most modern versions of the Bible carry approximately 300 references to angels and their duties here on earth. The earliest appearance of the shining ones is found in Genesis. They are messengers of God.

I will add a few tidbits such as the records of the ancient Jewish writings and laws stating that every Jew has 11,000 angels. The Roman Catholic Church teaches that each human is assigned a guardian angel at birth who remains close by during the entire life experience. In the Islamic religion, everyone is said to have two angels...one to record good deeds and the other to keep track of bad deeds. Angels are also important figures throughout the New Testament. The first wave of awareness sharing revelations regarding invisible celestial helpers first came to human attention through religion. Since this is a popular subject, I will continue with this delightful topic for the next couple of weeks.