Guest Blog: Cheryl Dellasega – Testings of Devotion
What Do Angels Look Like?
Do you believe in angels? Have you ever seen one? While I have felt angels close to me and heard them whisper in my ear, a friend of mine who paints spiritual figures has actually seen a heavenly being standing by his bed when he woke one morning. Inspired by the vision, he quickly pulled out his paints and recreated the image of the angel he had seen, but no sooner had he finished than a voice whispered in his ear: “What you were shown is not to be shared.” Without hesitation, my friend painted over the picture, knowing that he needed to respect what he had been given. What a disappointment for me, though! I had been longing to see a credible picture of a real angel, and now my one chance had evaporated—although there’s still hope I’ll get my own heavenly visitation someday.
Most of us imagine angels in pretty much the same form as we’ve seen them in greeting cards or television, but a tiny 764 page book I got on the sale table at Borders claims to show every picture created feature an angel. My goal is to visit them all! It’s no surprise that most are in Italy, but tiny Glen Falls in New York has one too! Once I’ve seen each one up close, perhaps I’ll be able to describe what the most common human portrayal of an angel looks like!
Good Angel—Bad Angel
When we talk about Satan, Lucifer, or the Devil, we often forget that he was once a favored angel, and that when he was cast out from Heaven he convinced a third of the other angels to go with him. (If he’s that good at persuading angels to do things they shouldn’t, it’s no wonder we’re often easy pickings.) Yet another kind of angel is mentioned in the Bible to add to Lucifer’s evil ranks, and these are the Nephilim, created, it’s believed, when angels mated with mortal women. The offspring were giants—like Goliath of David and Goliath fame, or perhaps the giants the Israelites viewed when checking out the promised land. Across cultures, there are many similar stories of these supernormal creatures, who look like the bad guy in a Bond movie.
So it’s important to remember that there are both good and evil angels. So often, when the philosophy of praying to “our” angel or somehow controlling the angels is advanced, humans are on a slippery slope. The Bible is very clear on who angels take direction from—God, not us. Although they must have a measure of free will since they can choose to leave Heaven, their duty is to serve as messengers and warriors for God.
