Angels: The Seen and Unseen

By Joseph J. Randazzo

The Angels have not always existed, GOD created them, and He did so before He even made the universes. Angels are beings who have greater power and ability than humankind. They exist and appear in physical form or spiritual here on earth or in the heavens with a level of existence higher than the physical universe. Thus, some levels of Angels are also referred to as spirits and known as the “Unseen.”
When we observe and meet up with these messengers doing supernatural things, there is no complete understanding how they do these miracles as heavenly beings. However, those who believe it GOD the Fathers know these private messengers, work for the ultimate benefit to help evolve humans century after century and live and walk among us.
Angels may work hard to guard the people they are assigned to protect from danger. Stories about Angels rescuing people facing destructive overbearing situations are popular in our culture. Some people from religious traditions like Catholicism believe that everyone has a guardian Angel divinely assigned to them for their entire life.
Angels in worldly religions such as Judaism, Christianity, and Islam state that an important part of the Angels’ work is to worship the GOD who created them, such as by praising him in heaven. Some religions, such as Islam, state that all Angels serve GOD faithfully. Other religions, such as Christianity, state that some Angels are faithful to GOD, while others have rebelled against him and are now known as demons and the evil ones.
Angels are mentioned 273 times in the Bible referencing special messages, unique events, unexplainable miracles, promoting creational benevolence or following orders of death and destruction, hence Sodom and Gomorrah. The Bible states some Angels are GOD’s messengers and likewise beware the Bible also states some Angels are GOD’s Spiritual Army, telling us about facts not to forget of such legions of warring Angels with unlimited capacities.
Some Angels have been described as “participants” in the creation and providential continuance of the cosmos though out the Heavens.
Clement of Alexandria, influenced by Hellenistic cosmology, mentioned that the functions and the moving of the stars and control the four elements such as, earth, air, fire and water are controlled by GOD’s assigned participating hierarchy of Angels.
There are NINE (9) distinct types of Angels identified in biblical scripture. We know by popularity the Archangels are the most recognizable, however reviled in the Bible are many more Angel types whose functions are assigned to protect, care and inspire the humankind on earth. Both in the Old and in the New Testament, we see Angels have been named numerous times and each have a key position and chain of command in GOD’s plan in addition to belonging to the army of GOD thought out the Universes.
Angels are interwoven within the culture of man regardless of religion or your belief system, become informed in this study about “Angels” – “The Seen and Unseen”. “The things visible and the things invisible,” Beware of a stranger you meet, it may be an Angel, by Joseph J. Randazzo.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Elohim Inc.
• Release date: Jan 12, 2024
• ISBN: 9781545757253

Book preview

Chapter 1

What are Angels

Angels are beings who have greater power and ability than humankind. They exist in heaven, or the spirit realm, which is a level of existence higher than the physical universe. Thus, they are also referred to as spirits and known as the unseen.

An Angel is a pure spirit created by GOD. The Old Testament theology included the belief in Angels: the name applied to certain spiritual beings or intelligences of heavenly residence, employed by GOD as the ministers of His will.

The English name Angel comes from the Greek Angelo’s, which means ‘messenger’. In the Old Testament, with two exceptions, the Hebrew word for Angel is Malak, also meaning ‘messenger’. The prophet Malachi took his name from this word. He was himself a messenger, and he prophesied about the coming of the messenger of the covenant, Jesus Christ, Malachi 3:1.

Although the word Angel nearly always applies to heavenly beings, it can occasionally apply to human messengers. Malachi himself said a priest was a messenger (Malak) of the LORD of hosts Malachi 2:7, and in the Book of Revelation the elders of the seven churches of Asia were called Angels 1:20 – 21.

When we observe and meet up with these messengers doing supernatural things, there is no complete understanding how they perform these unexplainable events we call miracles. These so-called heavenly beings or visitors are on a specific assignments from GOD the Fathers, who summons his private messengers, ANGLES. working for Him and for the ultimate benefit to help evolve mankind.

When Angels visit Earth they appear in either human or heavenly spiritual form. So Angels may visit in disguise, looking just like every day human beings of the time in history they worked. Or Angels may appear as they’ve been popularly depicted in art, as creatures with human faces often shining with light from within.

In this earths realm and reality of Angels the religious dominations such as Judaism, Christianity and Islam say that an important part of Angels’ work is to worship the GOD who created them by giving endless service to the creation thought out the universes and dimensions.

Some religions, such as Islam, say that all Angels serve GOD faithfully. Other religions, such as Christianity, say that some Angels are faithful to GOD, while others have rebelled against him and are now known as demons, such the story of Lucifer and the fallen Angels.

Other religions on planet earth, like Hinduism and Buddhism, as well as belief systems such as the New Age spirituality, profess an opinion, that Angels can be beings who have worked their way up from low to high spiritual planes by passing spiritual tests, and may continue to grow wiser and stronger even after they’ve achieved an Angelic state as all things evolve in their theory.

Just as their name implies, Angels may deliver GOD’s messages to humans, such as by comforting, encouraging, or warning people according to what’s best in each situation into which GOD sends them to perform a benefit or service.

Angels are very keen and astute to also guard the people they’re assigned to from any dangerous situation of life or death. Stories about Angels rescuing people facing last-minute death-defying situations are popular in our culture. A cast amount of Christians people believe that everyone has a guardian Angel and or even more than one guardian Angel from time to time divinely assigned to them for their entire earthly lifetime and human evolution on earth.

Other dogma believes that Angels record all the activities people choose to do, good or bad. Some New Age, Jewish, and Christian believers say that an Archangel, named Metatron records everything that happens in the universe, with help from Angels with in the higher Angelic rank.

Islam says that GOD has created Angels called Kiraman Katibin who specialize in recording deeds and that GOD assigns two of those Angels to each person, with one recording the person’s good deeds and another recording the person’s evil deeds. In Sikhism, Angels named Chitar and Gupta record the decisions of all people, with Chitar recording deeds that other humans see and Gupta recording deeds that are hidden from other people but known to GOD.

Benevolent beings, usually Angels assist humans in achieving a proper rapport with GOD, other spiritual beings, or humans’ life situations. Angels, for example, not only act as revealers of divine truths but also are believed to be pathfinders in helping people to attain salvation or special graces or favors. It is the Angels purpose to administrant these basic and primary function to serve GOD and do his will.

This philosophy seems to be true of Angels in Christianity, Zoroastrianism, Judaism and Islam. Whereby as a functional extensions of the divine will, they sometimes intervene in human affairs by rewarding the faithful and punishing the unjust to assist the less fortunate or the weak, who need help to destroy the wicked, who unjustly persecute their fellow brothers and sisters.

One such example is in the intertestamental book of Tobit, which is a apocryphal or a hidden book that is not accepted as canonical by Jews or Protestants, the Archangel Raphael (GOD Heals), for example, helps the hero Tobias, the son of Tobit, on a journey and also reveals to him magic formulas to cure his father’s blindness and to counteract the power of the demon Asmodeus.

It is written Angels have been described as helpers to GOD in participating in the creation and providential continuance of the cosmos. Clement of Alexandria, influenced by Hellenistic cosmology, stated that they function as the movers of the stars and control the four elements as earth, air, fire, and water.

It is also written many Angels are believed to be guardians over individuals as well as whole nations and counties. The Roman Catholic view says that there are guardian Angels watching over children and acting over them as a guardianship to protect from earthly potential harm and demons from principalities.

Other Angels have the assignment to collect the souls of the dead to then direct the souls to the heavenly realm. Additionally Angels from time to time help in the procreation of humans and are believed to perform various services to propagate the human species in selected breading with genic coded essences. This is especially noticeable in the instances of Angels announcing the births of human divine figures such as Jesus and John the Baptist in the New Testament. However there are stories in bible history regarding other realms of Angels who have appeared in in the physical likeness of human form.

Example,

The Angel who wrestled with the patriarch Jacob, as recorded in the book of Genesis, was in the form of a man.

Example,

Angels were viewed as noncorporeal spiritual beings who appeared to humans in an apparitional fashion. Their spiritual nature had been emphasized earlier by Hebrew prophets, such as Ezekiel and Isaiah, in their visionary descriptions.

Example,

In the ranking of the Cherubim and Seraphim, are two superior orders of Angels, that are described by artist as winged creatures that guard the throne of GOD. The use of wings attached to various beings by artist symbolizes their invisible and spiritual nature, a practice that can be traced back to the ancient Egyptians, who represented the battling sun-GOD Horus of Edfu as a winged disk.

Example,

In recent times some various kinds of speculation among theologians and common people about the nature of the appearances of Angels has been highly questioned which has been recorded in both Scripture and legends based on popular piety. Angles have been viewed in the spiritual nature universally represented, until the 20th century by winged human figures. This led to various kinds of speculation among theologians and common people about the nature of the appearances of Angels.

Example,

Some theologians, such as Saint Augustin in the 4th–5th century, stated that Angels, who have ethereal bodies, may be able to assume material bodies. This problem, however, has not been solved to the satisfaction of later theologians.

Example,

In today’s definitions upon the dark side where spirits are called malevolent beings, demons, fallen Angels, ghosts, evil spirits or hybrid creatures could be creatures of hell.

Some Angels are believed to have fallen from a position of proximity to GOD such as the Angel Lucifer, who was called Satan by early Jews and Christians in biblical reference. The writings claim because of pride or for attempts to usurp the position of the Supreme Being, GOD, Angel Lucifer fell from grace in the heavenly hierarchy and taking with him one third of heavens working Angels.

Thereafter Lucifer and his fallen outcast of Angels do always attempt to keep humans from gaining a right relationship with GOD and his infinite creations of the universes by provoking them to sin.

Example,

Some medieval scholars claim Satin (Lucifer) uses a stratagem of the seven (7) deadly sins:

1.Lucifer (Pride)

2.Mammon (Avarice)

3.Asmodeus (Lechery)

4.Satan (Anger)

5.Beelzebub (Gluttony)

6.Leviathan (Envy)

7.Belphegor (Sloth).

Example,

Fallen Angels work collectively together to tempt humans to sin, the fallen Angels, devils or evil ones are believed to cause various types of calamities, both natural and accidental. Like the demons and evil spirits of nature in nonliterate religions, the fallen Angels were viewed as the agents of famine, disease, war, earthquakes, accidental deaths, and various mental or emotional disorders. Persons afflicted with mental diseases were considered to be demon possessed. Though the functions of demonic figures, like those of fallen Angels, is of major significance, the nature of demons has been of concern to theologians and persons infused with popular piety. Like Angels, demons are regarded as spiritual, noncorporeal beings, but they have been depicted in religious iconography as hybrid creatures with horrifying characteristics or as caricatures of idols of an opposing religion. In the early church, for example, there was a belief that pagan idols were inhabited by demons.

The horrifying aspects of demons have been represented in the woodcuts of medieval and historical artists and in the makeup of masks by shamans, medicine men, and priests of nonliterate religions causing those to be frighten and then controlled by a fear stimulus.

Example,

Ambivalent or neutral spiritual beings are usually not found in Western religions, which usually divide the inhabitants of the cosmos into those who are either allied with or in opposition to the Supreme Being. Islam, however, classifies spiritual beings into Angels (malā’ikah), demons (shāyaṭīn), and jinn (singular jinni), or genies.

This last category includes spiritual beings that might be either benevolent or malevolent. According to legend, the jinn were created out of fire 2,000 years before the creation of Adam, the first human. Capable of both visibility and invisibility, a jinni could assume various forms—either animal or human—and could be either a help or a hindrance to humans. By cunning, a superior use of intellect, or magic, people might be able to manipulate a jinni for their own benefit.

Example,

Various minor nature spirits—such as the spirits of water, fire, mountains, and winds and other spirits recognized in nonliterate religions—are generally neutral, but, in order to keep them that way or to make them beneficial to humans, proper sacrifices and rituals must be performed.

Example,

Whereby there are a verity of either Angels are demons called by the intermediate beings between the sacred and profane realms assume to appear in various forms in the dogmatic religions belief systems on earth which make up the following celestial and atmospheric beings; Some spirits are of the realm of extraterrestrial- and not of earth origins.

Other consist of devils, demons, and evil spirits; ghosts and nature spirits and fairies.

Example,

In Zoroastrianism, Judaism, Christianity, and Islam which are monotheistic and view the cosmos as a tripartite universe, Angels and demons are generally conceived as celestial or atmospheric spirits. In the popular piety of these religions, however, there is a widespread belief in ghosts, ghouls, goblins, demons, and evil spirits that influence humans in their terrestrial condition and activities. The celestial beings may be either benevolent or malevolent, depending on their own relationship to the Supreme Being. On the other hand, the demons and evil spirits that generally influence humans in their role as terrestrial beings rather than in their destiny as superterrestrial beings are viewed in popular piety and somewhat in theological reflection as malevolent in intent.

Example,

Angels are generally grouped in orders of four, six, or seven in the first ranks, of which there may be nine. The use of four, which symbolically implies perfection and is related to the four cardinal points, is found in Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. Early Zoroastrianism, much influenced by the astronomical and astrological sciences of ancient Iran.

What is Zoroastrianism

Zoroastrianism is one of the world’s oldest religions organizing a system of faith based on the teachings of the Iranian prophet called Zoroaster. This philosophy is a dualistic cosmology of good and evil within the framework of a monotheistic which predicts the ultimate conquest of evil by good.

Zoroastrianism exalts an uncreated and benevolent deity of wisdom known as Ahura Mazda (Lord of Wisdom) as an advanced being. The unique yet similar features of this religion relates and agrees with free will, judgment after death, recognizing heaven and hell, Angels and demons among other concepts that may have influenced other religious and philosophical systems, including the Abrahamic religions, Gnosticism, Northern Buddhism and Greek philosophy.

Again, the benevolent deity of wisdom known as Ahura Mazda (Lord of Wisdom) as an advanced being coordinated the concept of the seven known planetary spheres with its belief in the grouping of seven of celestial beings as follows through the amesha spentas of Ahura Mazdā:

1.Spenta Mainyu (the Holy Spirit)

2.Vohu Mana (Good Mind)

3.Asha (Truth)

4.Ārmaiti (Right Mindedness)

5.Khshathra (Kingdom)

6.Haurvatāt (Wholeness)

7.Ameretāt (Immortality).

In later Zoroastrianism, though not in the Gathas which are the early hymns, believed to have been written by Zoroaster, in the Avesta, the sacred scriptures. Ahura Mazdā and Spenta Mainyu were identified with each other, and the remaining bounteous as immortals and where grouped in an order of six. Over against the bounteous immortals, who helped to link the spiritual and material worlds together, was the counterpart of the Holy Spirit namely Angra Mainyu, the Evil Spirit, who later became the great adversary Ahriman (the prototype of the Jewish, Christian, and Islamic Satan), and the daevas, who were most likely GODs of early Indo-Iranian religion.

Allied with Angra Mainyu these deceptions are foe against Ahura Mazdā as Angels from the most-high fought to defend against these evil methods as follows:

1.Akōman (Evil Mind),

2.Indrā-vāyū (Death),

3.Saurva (a daeva of death and disease),

4.Nāñhaithya (a daeva related to the Vedic GOD Nāsatya),

5.Tauru (difficult to identify),

6.Zairi (the personification of haoma, the sacred drink sacrifices of both ahuras and daevas)

7.Aēshma (violence, fury, or the aggressive impulse)

8.Āz (Concupiscence or Lust)

9.Mithrāndruj (He Who Lies to Mithra or False Speech)

10.Jēh (the demon Whore, created later by Ahriman to defile the human race)

Example,

Angelology and demonology in Judaism became more highly developed during and after the period of the Babylonian Exile (6th–5th centuries BCE), when contacts were made with Zoroastrianism. In the Hebrew Bible, Yahweh is called the Lord of hosts.

These hosts (Sabaoth) are the heavenly army (Angels) that fights against the forces of evil and performs various missions, such as guarding the entrance to paradise, punishing evildoers, protecting the faithful, and revealing GOD’s Word to humans.

Example,

Two Archangels are mentioned in the canonical Hebrew Bible;

Angel Michael, the warrior leader of the heavenly host and Angel Gabriel the heavenly massager.

Example,

Another Two Archangels are mentioned in the apocryphal Hebrew Bible;

Angel Raphael, GOD;s healer or helper in the book of Tobit.

And Angel Uriel, the fire of GOD the watcher over the world and the lowest part of hell.

Example,

Under the influence of Zoroastrianism, Satan, the adversary, probably evolved into the archdemon. Other demons included Azazel (the demon of the wilderness, incarnated in the scapegoat), Leviathan and Rahab (demons of chaos), Lilith (a female night demon), and others. To protect themselves from the powers of the demons and unclean spirits, Jews influenced by folk