Home | Articles | Poetry | About The Author | Contact Us |
I do not think I have seen an angel in my lifetime. Some have concluded that the person who suddenly appeared to provide life saving help and then just as suddenly vanished, must have been an angel. Often these accounts involve car accidents, near accidents, and breakdowns either in remote regions or on busy highways. Whether we have had an angelic experience or not is truly up to God who created angels to be ministering spirits to humanity in order to bring mankind to salvation. Angels have many duties assigned by God such as to provide protection, guidance, encouragement, give reassurance, and announce key messages of events as well as proclaim God’s wrath. Angels are also known as messengers or representatives who fight for, or defend and guard God’s people against the spirits of wickedness in order to deliver them.
The angelic realm is made up of legions upon legions of angels...too numerous to count and we do not have an exact number. Perhaps God is adding to their numbers periodically, we simply do not know at this time. What we do know is that one third of the angelic realm was enticed by Lucifer (who became Satan) into rebelling against God and these angels are now part of the demonic realm (demons) and also known as fallen angels. Revelation 12:4 specifically mentions “his (Satan’s) tail drew a third of the stars (angels) of heaven and threw them to the earth”. Reading the remainder of Revelation 12 reveals more of the picture and how Satan with his demons will come after God’s people to persecute them.
We realise that two thirds of the angelic realm are messengers of light while the fallen third are messengers of darkness and death but masquerading as light (2 Corinthians 11:14). Throughout the whole of the Bible, from Genesis to Revelation, we can read of many accounts where angels have been active and appeared to God's people...Moses, Lot, Joshua, Abraham and Sarah, Elijah, Gideon, David, Isaiah, Daniel, Zechariah and Elizabeth, Joseph and Mary, Paul, and Peter, just to name a few.
My Night Of Unexplained Terror
Towards the end of 2013 I went to bed one evening and as usual prayed for God’s protection before I went to sleep. The week was a very ordinary one with work and the usual course of events. The last thing I did before I went to bed that night was to send an email to the travel company arranging a trip to Israel for the upcoming spring holy day season of Passover and Days of Unleavened Bread, advising that I would not be attending. It was the last day to send in a deposit or down payment to secure our place. In all good conscience I could not do it as my youngest daughter had been ill for most of the year, and as much as I wanted to attend, I really did not think it wise as she may still be quite affected with her illness even though the trip was yet several months away.
In the middle of the night I remember being suddenly awakened from a deep sleep that was very peaceful. No bad dreams or nightmares. So my eyes sprang open to see nothing and my ears heard nothing. Everything was still and quiet. However the atmosphere was tense with a distinct impression or presence of evil. My thoughts convinced me I was about to die and there was nothing I could do about it. This was really a very strange thing to experience. It was terrifying because the intensity of doom and death was so strong it was almost palpable, and yet my eyes and ears had no clue in order to help me. I lay there for seconds which felt like minutes. I prayed to God to help me from what exactly I did not know. After several prayers I was put instantly back to sleep. This was even strange as my whole body started to tingle from one end to the other like something went through me however it felt nice and relaxing but my mind was fighting it thinking it was not a good thing at all. It was no use I was instantly asleep. The next thing I knew it was morning — I clearly and vividly remembered what had happened, puzzling over supernatural events.
There is no physical way I can wake myself up like that and then return myself again to sleep in an instant. I knew something supernatural occurred...but why? What had I done to cause or deserve this night of terror? It was so despicable I never wanted anything like this to ever occur again and needed to understand why it happened in order to do everything in my power to avoid it like the plague. From time to time I still wonder what happened that night and recently I have come to know a bit more from a piece in the puzzle.
I kept asking myself why...why, why was I awakened? When I examined what I did when I woke up the answer seemed quite obvious — the only thing I could do and did, was pray while experiencing sheer terror and fear. So I must have been awakened by an angel in order to pray and help my cause. Gives great importance to prayer and the faith that God can do anything and will never ever leave us or forsake us (Deuteronomy 20:4; 31:8). There simply is no other explanation. This gives me some peace and closure to the strangeness of the whole event. An angel fought a demon over my life that night! My thoughts raced to analyse why couldn’t the angel do all the fighting so I could remain asleep and unaware? Was this an ordinary angel or was it Michael contending with Satan himself? (Daniel 12:1). The power of the battle was so mighty I could not draw any other conclusion. I had been heavily involved in the occult before conversion and there had been many demonic attacks during this time while my daughter was ill. The enemy has tried many times to pull me out of God’s church and once very early on nearly succeeded. The attacks have been more subtle lately but this night of terror was unlike anything else before or since...very unnerving.
Not sure if anyone else has had an experience like mine but I have heard of others being smothered, or a heavy pressure bearing down over their chest so they cannot move. The night of terror is one experience I would like further explanation of but realise it may not come until my resurrection. I would understand more if I had not asked for protection or committed sin and not repented of that sin leading up to going to sleep that night. From memory things were going along reasonably well even though there had been awful illness in the family.
Finding comfort in God’s word for my experience comes from Psalm 91:5-11...
“You shall not be afraid of the terror by night,
Nor of the arrow that flies by day,
Nor of the pestilence that walks in darkness,
Nor of the destruction that lays waste at noonday.
A thousand may fall at your side,
And ten thousand at your right hand;
But it shall not come near you.
Only with your eyes shall you look,
And see the reward of the wicked.
Because you have made the Lord, who is my refuge,
Even the Most High, your dwelling place,
No evil shall befall you,
Nor shall any plague come near your dwelling;
For He shall give His angels charge over you,
To keep you in all your ways”.
There are many things now that we may have to go through but not necessarily understand. How can we with faulty human reasoning and carnal nature? Godspeed the time when we will understand all because we will have been changed into eternal supernatural beings as part of the God family.