Who are the Biblical Angels? – A Critical Perspective, (# 3)

As I was nearing the end of paper #2, I was discussing the visibility and the invisibility of angels, and of Yahshua Christ in His resurrected body – which is the kind of immortal body we will receive in our next life. Whether or not, in our new immortal bodies, we will be able to disappear and, then reappear at our own discretion in a different location is not fully clear. If such should be the case, our present mode of travel (i.e., automobiles, trains, airplanes, even horseback) would become obsolete!

Who are the Biblical Angels? – A Critical Perspective, (# 1)

There are an age-long kaleidoscope of concepts on this subject, some like the Sadducees, who reject the very existence of angels (Acts 23:8). This is a very extensive topic, and will require several papers to resolve all of the difficulties we are bound to encounter.

To start with, we will examine the Hebrew and Greek words for “angel/s” as used in the Scripture on this matter, for otherwise we may arrive at a mistaken conclusion. So please carefully note the following:

It’ll Be More Blessed to Be “Left Behind”!

Many are disillusioned today, believing that it would be a tragedy if one were to be “left behind” at the Second Advent of Yahweh Christ. Actually, just the opposite is true, as he who is “left behind” will be preserved. We will start this discussion by citing Matt. 24:36-42 thusly:

Identifying the "Beast of the Field", #7

In part #’s 1 through 6 of this series, I have addressed the many errors in identifying who are “the beast of the field”. With this paper, I will review some of the main points we have discovered concerning this Biblical expression, from various sources.

The Angels That Sinned "Chained in Darkness", Part 5

With this 5th paper, we are going to continue this often neglected subject, which many twist and contort until no reasonable rationale can be made of it. With this edition, we shall resume with Clifton L. Fowler’s The Angels That Sinned, written in 1929, and reprinted by Dan Gayman of the Church of Israel in 1992. Again, as we will see, Fowler was amazingly way ahead of his time on this subject, although he did have blind spots in certain areas which I will address. He divided his 31 page booklet into seven subchapters thusly:

I. The Angels That Sinned Were At One Time Angels Of Righteousness And Glory.

II. The Angels That Sinned Were Disobedient In The Days Of Noah.

III. The Angels That Sinned Are The Same As The Sons Of God Of Genesis Six.

IV. The Angels That Sinned, Sinned In Like Manner To Sodom And Gomorrha.

V. The Angels That Sinned Became The Progenitors Of The Giants.

VI. The Angels That Sinned Particularly Aimed At The Pollution Of The Women Of The Race.

VII. The Angels That Sinned Are Now Imprisoned In Tartarus Awaiting Judgment.”

On pages 11-16, Fowler addressed a misconception of Scripture under the subtitle:

III. The Angels That Sinned Are The Same As The Sons Of God Of Genesis Six.

The passage in Genesis 6 has been for many a long day, a theological battleground. However, in the light of the self-interpreting feature of the Scriptures, it seems quite unnecessary that such multiplicity of these theological battles should ever have been waged. The passage follows:

“‘And it came to pass, when men began to multiply on the face of the earth, and daughters were born unto them, That the sons of God saw the daughters of men that they were fair; and they took them wives of all which they chose. And Yahweh said, My spirit shall not always strive with man, for that he also is flesh: yet his days shall be an hundred and twenty years. There were giants in the earth in those days; and also after that, when the sons of God came in unto the daughters of men, and they bare children to them, the same became mighty men which were of old, men of renown’, (Genesis 6:1-4).

The question over which the severest disputation has occurred is – ‘Who are these ‘sons of God,’ who saw the ‘daughters of men,’ and proceeded to marry them?’ The answer which has become most familiar is that they are the ‘sons of Seth’ and that the ‘daughters of men’ are the ‘daughters of Cain.’

The Angels That Sinned "Chained in Darkness", Part 4

With this 4th paper, we are going to continue this oft-neglected topic which many regard as being of little importance, and give it only a once-over surface reading. In this edition, we shall continue to scrutinize Clifton L. Fowler’s The Angels That Sinned, written in 1929 and reprinted by Dan Gayman of the Church of Israel in 1992. As we will see, Fowler was amazingly way ahead of his time on this subject, although he did fall short in certain areas which I will address. He divided his 31 page booklet into seven subchapters thusly:

I. The Angels That Sinned Were At One Time Angels Of Righteousness And Glory.

II. The Angels That Sinned Were Disobedient In The Days Of Noah.

III. The Angels That Sinned Are The Same As The Sons Of God Of Genesis Six.

IV. The Angels That Sinned, Sinned In Like Manner To Sodom And Gomorrha.

V. The Angels That Sinned Became The Progenitors Of The Giants.

VI. The Angels That Sinned Particularly Aimed At The Pollution Of The Women Of The Race.

VII. The Angels That Sinned Are Now Imprisoned In Tartarus Awaiting Judgment.”

On pages 19-23, Fowler writes of what he calls:

V. The Angels That Sinned Became The Progenitors Of The Giants thusly:

The giants of the days of old were not imaginary, they were awful realities. The corrupt, sinful, and voluptuous giants which move through the legendary pages of Babylonian, Greek, and Roman Mythology as heathen deities, have their origin and foundation in fact. The giants existed. Many of the heathen yarns about them are doubtless inventions, but back of the mass of myth, legend, and saga with which this subject is loaded, stands the testimony of both archaeology and Scripture that there once trod upon this old earth a race of beings of stupendous stature, who mysteriously appeared, flourished for a season, in spite of their great size, prodigious strength, and supernatural knowledge, proved, finally, to be sterile and hence incapable of reproduction. They were not overcome by their enemies, they simply died out. And when they were gone, the stories of their impure and mighty deeds, artfully expanded and embellished, became the basis for the heathen religions of all the nations of the ancient day. Heathen mythology is not one hundred percent myth. When traced back to its fountainhead we find a beginning of solid fact.