Attack on the Church through False Angelic Visitations

 When the disciples asked the Lord Jesus Christ to tell them what would signpost His return and the end of time, He said to them, “Take heed that no man deceives you” (Mathew 24:4). It is instructive to note that He also told them that the Holy Spirit would lead them into all truth (John 16:12-14). Paul the apostle had this to say in terms of end time events, “Now the Spirit speaketh expressly, that in the latter times some shall depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits, and doctrines of devils” (1 Timothy 4:1).

 Those of us who patronise Christian bookshops or are active on social media have seen clear evidence of people that are under the influence of these seducing spirits. Many of them own churches or online ministries. In fact, I had the opportunity to interact with an American Pastor of a non-denominational ministry that I initially thought was a disciple of Jesus Christ.

This man was fond of talking about his visitations from the Lord Himself. Of course, he shared some things that were interesting and Scriptural. That was until he openly derided the events recorded in chapter 6 of Genesis. I promptly sent him an email asking him if he had the authority to edit the Bible. Once he ignored my query  I had no choice than to unsubscribe from his mailing list.

 We had been warned that agents of satan would also appear as angel of light, just like their master (2 Corinthians 11:14). This has not stopped many Christians from willingly serving as the mouthpiece of these evil entities. They are the ones spreading “new and exotic” revelations that impinge on the integrity of the word of God. For instance, these so-called ministers of God encourage their gullible followers to “activate their angels” or send their angels on assignments: an idea that is alien to Scripture. Since God Himself initiated all angelic visitations in the Bible, it is clear that the angels these ministers are interacting with are from the kingdom of darkness. These fallen angels are the sources of the doctrines of demons the Holy Spirit warned us about in 1 Timothy 4:1.

The false teachings on angels have permeated many Pentecostal churches globally. In my country Nigeria, one of the ministers promoting the idea of people activating their angels also claimed that God’s eternal purpose is to make men like Himself, having all his attributes. He said that many believers like himself have already attained that God-likeness by being omnipotent, omniscient and omnipresent.

Does this not sound like the dummy satan sold to Eve in the Garden of Eden? Indeed, God created us in His image, but humans assuming attributes that make them sovereign is stretching the truth. How can a man claim to have the three attributes that set God apart from His creation? If humans were omnipotent, omniscient and omnipotent, why would they worship God? 

The sad thing about these falsehoods is that many Christians are idolising these charlatans. When I shared with a friend my concern about the exotic revelations coming from these angelic visitations, his response was that such ministers are operating at a higher realm spiritually. This was in relation to claims by a popular preacher in Nigeria that Adam was not the first human being created by God, thus contradicting Biblical narrative.

If anyone had the right to edit the Bible, the person is the Lord Jesus Christ. John 3:34-35 says that God gave Christ the fullness of His Spirit. Isaiah 11:2 states that Jesus received the sevenfold Spirit of God. So, why did the Lord not edit the Bible while He was here on earth? He did not do it because the Word of God is eternal. The Father declared in Psalm 89:34 that He would not alter any word that has gone out of His mouth.

If anyone adds or subtracts from the Holy Bible, we know for certain that the person is an agent of satan. Period. Anyone who claims to receive fresh revelations that contradict Scripture is also working for the devil. The word of the LORD God Almighty is eternal and cannot be edited by any angel. It is also important to note that there is no Scripture to back up spurious claims that angels encamp round anyone or are attached to anybody.

They are sent by God to perform specific tasks and they return to Him after completing their assignments. Some of these charlatans twists Psalm 34:7 out of context to justify their false angelic visitations. This what the Scripture says, “The angel of the LORD encamps around those who fear Him, and He delivers them.” Notice that it says “The angel of the LORD”, not the angels of God. Throughout the Old Testament, the phrase “The angel of the LORD” refers to God Himself when He appears in person. In fact, some Bible expositors argue that it referred to the pre-incarnate Christ.

Whatever the interpretation, the angel of the LORD refers to God Himself. If we understand this, we would stop flowing with the idiotic ideas promoted by some of these agents of darkness that they have been assigned certain number of angels for their protection. One of them, an American woman who claimed to have visited heaven severally once said that God had sent her one billion angels for an unspecified assignment. She went as far as telling another minister that God had given her permission to deploy one million of these angels to him. How ridiculous can someone get!

The only safety net against the deception of the last days, especially the fixation with angelic ministry is to stay in God’s word. If your pastor or any other minister adds to or subtract from the word of God, walk away from such a gathering. If you choose to stay back, you are willingly participating in personality cult. In addition, you have become an idolater because you have chosen a man above God. Let me tell you the fate that awaits you. It is in Revelation 21:8, “But the cowardly, the unbelieving, the vile, the murderers, the sexually immoral, those who practice magic arts, the idolaters and all liars, their place will be the fiery lake of burning sulphur.”