World of Angels (ISBN # 0533055199), was one of the first books to truly explore the topic of Angels with a combination of intellectual, historical, religious and archeological research all the while entertaining the reader with brilliant words nothing short of a mystic experience. Oprah once had a show dedicated to the study of Angels and one of her guests held up the book to the audience and recommended that those with questions seek out the book for their answers.
World of Angels is not a theological work. Neither is it an occultist treatise nor an exercise in the psychic sciences. As a result it can be said to be none of the above. But in another regard, it actually encompasses all of the above and beyond.
From the beginning of time or since man first cast his eyes unto the heavens, the knowledge of celestial beings has been of questionable content and impact. Much like a thrown stone skipping across the waters, man's contact with, or knowledge of and interest in, Angels has skittered across his consciousness for a brief moment only to bounce off for another century or two in return for another brief contact, only to skitter off again for more countless years. Thousands of years have expired, and today in the beginning decades of the twentieth-first century we find sophisticated Western man no more knowledgeable about Angels than were the common folk in biblical times. In fact it might even be said that knowledge of Angels to the Jews and Gentiles of that era was greater than it is, to the well-read thinking man of today. Just as God created mankind, man also, in his stead, has created God. Our Heavenly Creator has been given to the world in all shapes, sizes, colors, and prices, like all other common merchandise. And particularly in these times we find God being discarded by some like so much used and worn merchandise. We even read that God is dead, a hypothesis advanced more boldly with each day. Others of us have pathetically or stoically concluded that, indeed, God never existed.
A tragedy now confronts us in these times, for the confusion and immeasurable gulf between man and God has stretched to such an inestimable degree that man cannot reach his Maker anymore. Either man is lost to his God, or, more tragically, God is lost to man. The resulting breach is too wide for mankind to reach out to his Maker. What a fitting climax to this most illustrious of the world's ages and centuries. And as modern man sits bewildered amid his plastic creations, chromium-plated toys, and epoxy-enameled weapons, in spite of his intelligence, technology, power and will, the void remains.
Yet, from the eons of creation, the very foundation of the world, indeed another world has existed. The world of spirits, or Angels, has been with us, and coexisting all around use. Their very existence has been ordained, from the onset, by the divine plan to fill this void between man and his God. Yet man, in all his vanity, concentrates on the quick easy grasp to eternity and, having failed, retreats dejected into pathos. Man seeks "instant salvation" much like his morning coffee. He tarries not to contemplate his awesome world of Angels, these lesser beings. He does not realize the great avenues presented by them on his quest to his Maker.
It has never occurred to man to realize the purpose, and therefore, meaning for the existence of this world of Angels-that all things from the vast universe itself to the lowliest atom are under the direction, control, and order of these mighty Angels and that if they were to resign their charge all existence including man would instantly cease. All things attributable to God are achieved through this wonderful world of Angels. All intelligence, energy, order, and purpose are the sole charge of these Angels, by divine decree. Angels thus are the manifestation of God's intelligence and power, the "God presence" in every material and mortal being.
Were man to realize this, he would willingly and eagerly seek out all knowledge and wisdom of these diving messengers. Through his comprehension of this select and august company the gulf between heaven and earth can be bridged.
To his surprise man would find that Angels, much like himself, were created; they have a history replete with momentous successes, as well as colossal failures. They have their heroes and villains, the energetic and wasteful, the dutiful and obedient, and the rebellious. And much like man, they have their spiritual progression and strive earnestly toward that celestial goal. The big difference is that Angels, unlike man, abide in and thus have access to Heaven and the Supreme Being. The veil to the understanding of the divine purpose that enshrouds all mankind does not envelop the Angels. In their celestial realm they work at their assignments more exhaustingly than we. Their labors never cease, and they do not rest. Having no graphic scale, they could overshadow the solar system yet stand ten thousand on the head of a pin. Yet man's knowledge of the Angels could likewise be imprinted on this same pin. His ignorance regarding these beings is equally as colossal as the cosmos.
World of Angels is not a theological work. Neither is it an occultist treatise nor an exercise in the psychic sciences. As a result it can be said to be none of the above. But in another regard, it actually encompasses all of the above and beyond.
From the beginning of time or since man first cast his eyes unto the heavens, the knowledge of celestial beings has been of questionable content and impact. Much like a thrown stone skipping across the waters, man's contact with, or knowledge of and interest in, Angels has skittered across his consciousness for a brief moment only to bounce off for another century or two in return for another brief contact, only to skitter off again for more countless years. Thousands of years have expired, and today in the beginning decades of the twentieth-first century we find sophisticated Western man no more knowledgeable about Angels than were the common folk in biblical times. In fact it might even be said that knowledge of Angels to the Jews and Gentiles of that era was greater than it is, to the well-read thinking man of today. Just as God created mankind, man also, in his stead, has created God. Our Heavenly Creator has been given to the world in all shapes, sizes, colors, and prices, like all other common merchandise. And particularly in these times we find God being discarded by some like so much used and worn merchandise. We even read that God is dead, a hypothesis advanced more boldly with each day. Others of us have pathetically or stoically concluded that, indeed, God never existed.
A tragedy now confronts us in these times, for the confusion and immeasurable gulf between man and God has stretched to such an inestimable degree that man cannot reach his Maker anymore. Either man is lost to his God, or, more tragically, God is lost to man. The resulting breach is too wide for mankind to reach out to his Maker. What a fitting climax to this most illustrious of the world's ages and centuries. And as modern man sits bewildered amid his plastic creations, chromium-plated toys, and epoxy-enameled weapons, in spite of his intelligence, technology, power and will, the void remains.
Yet, from the eons of creation, the very foundation of the world, indeed another world has existed. The world of spirits, or Angels, has been with us, and coexisting all around use. Their very existence has been ordained, from the onset, by the divine plan to fill this void between man and his God. Yet man, in all his vanity, concentrates on the quick easy grasp to eternity and, having failed, retreats dejected into pathos. Man seeks "instant salvation" much like his morning coffee. He tarries not to contemplate his awesome world of Angels, these lesser beings. He does not realize the great avenues presented by them on his quest to his Maker.
It has never occurred to man to realize the purpose, and therefore, meaning for the existence of this world of Angels-that all things from the vast universe itself to the lowliest atom are under the direction, control, and order of these mighty Angels and that if they were to resign their charge all existence including man would instantly cease. All things attributable to God are achieved through this wonderful world of Angels. All intelligence, energy, order, and purpose are the sole charge of these Angels, by divine decree. Angels thus are the manifestation of God's intelligence and power, the "God presence" in every material and mortal being.
Were man to realize this, he would willingly and eagerly seek out all knowledge and wisdom of these diving messengers. Through his comprehension of this select and august company the gulf between heaven and earth can be bridged.
To his surprise man would find that Angels, much like himself, were created; they have a history replete with momentous successes, as well as colossal failures. They have their heroes and villains, the energetic and wasteful, the dutiful and obedient, and the rebellious. And much like man, they have their spiritual progression and strive earnestly toward that celestial goal. The big difference is that Angels, unlike man, abide in and thus have access to Heaven and the Supreme Being. The veil to the understanding of the divine purpose that enshrouds all mankind does not envelop the Angels. In their celestial realm they work at their assignments more exhaustingly than we. Their labors never cease, and they do not rest. Having no graphic scale, they could overshadow the solar system yet stand ten thousand on the head of a pin. Yet man's knowledge of the Angels could likewise be imprinted on this same pin. His ignorance regarding these beings is equally as colossal as the cosmos.
No comments:
Post a Comment