Angelology
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Angels are people who have died and gone to heaven |
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In
his book What the Bible Actually
Teaches, John Odhner, who is a follower of spiritist Emmanuel Swedenborg,
states: ‘…. angels are simply people who have died and gone to heaven ….
people become angels after death’ |
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Confutation |
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Angels
are heavenly beings that were created by God before man was created. For when
God laid the foundations of the earth, the angels of God were already in
existence. That’s what we learn from the following words God said to Job:
“Where were you when I laid the foundations of the earth? Tell Me, if you
have understanding. Who determined its measurements? Surely you know! Or who
stretched the line upon it? To what were its foundations fastened? Or who
laid its cornerstone, when the morning stars sang together, and all the sons
of God [that is, the angels of God] shouted for joy?” (Job 38:4-7 – NKJV). So
angels cannot be people who have died and gone to heaven, for they came into
being before man was created. |
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Let
no one deceive you with empty words. We will not become angels when we die
and go to be with the Lord. We will continue to be what we are on earth, that
is, human beings. In other words, when our soul leaves our body, it won’t
undergo any change, it will not become an angel! As
we have seen, the angels of God are heavenly creatures,
therefore they can’t be people who have died in the Lord. That’s what we
learn from what John wrote in the book of Revelation. For the apostle wrote
that he saw “the souls of those who had been slain for the word of God and
for the testimony which they held” (Revelation 6:9 – NKJV) – those souls were
under the altar which is before God -, and he saw also the angels, who stood
around the throne, and the elders and the four living creatures (cf.
Revelation 7:11). Furthermore, you must bear in mind that the angels are
ministering spirits sent by God to serve those who will inherit salvation
(cf. Hebrews 1:14), therefore they are heavenly beings whom God sends to
fulfil certain tasks on behalf of the believers who are on earth (the Holy
Scripture confirms this many times), while those who have died in the Lord
are not sent by God to serve the saints who are on earth, but they remain in
heaven. |
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In
addition to this, the dead who die in the Lord cannot become angels because
they are waiting for the resurrection of their bodies and when they are
raised from the dead their soul will return to their body (that is, their
soul will be reunited with their body), which will be a body transformed by
the power of God into a glorious, immortal and incorruptible body (that is, a
resurrected body). While the angels of God are immortal spirits, thus they
don’t need to nor can be raised from the dead to attain immortality |
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Neither
will they become angels when they rise; however they will be like angels
because they will not die any longer. That’s the meaning of the following
words of Jesus: “The people [lit: children] of this age marry and are given
in marriage. But those who are considered worthy of taking part in that age
and in the resurrection from the dead will neither marry nor be given in
marriage, and they can no longer die; for they are like the angels. They are
God’s children, since they are children of the resurrection” (Luke |