Angels To The Rescue

A number of contemporary books recount encouraging and inspiring stories of the holy angels at work in the lives of people throughout history and even today. These angels have saved the lives of Christians, provided encouragement during persecution, and helped in the conversion of non-Christians.

In Celebration of Angels, we find many stories of deliverance. For example, Walt Shepard was a very depressed non-Christian who had decided to take his own life. He rammed his sports car (at 120 miles an hour) into what he thought was an abandoned car parked on the side of the road. But the car was neither abandoned nor out of gas. It exploded and both vehicles caught on fire. What saved that car’s driver and passenger was that they were outside the vehicle resting.

Walt was catapulted through the windshield and landed on the car’s engine with fire surrounding him. Pinned and trapped, he passed out. Though the heat was so intense that no one could get close enough to help, the police watched in amazement as two men suddenly appeared, pulled Walt out of the fire, and helped place him in the ambulance. The police and a hotel manager “confirmed that two figures walked up to the car as though there were no fire at all. People said the searing heat kept everybody else 50–100 feet back. The attending police were dumbstruck by the peculiar rescue.” Walt nearly died and endured many painful months of hospitalization in a body cast, but he realized he had been saved by angels. He now knew God wanted him to live. As a result, he accepted Jesus Christ as his personal Lord and Savior.

Then there is the story of David Moore and his friend Henry Gardner, who were trapped in severe fog in a small plane with nowhere to land. They radioed the Asheville, North Carolina, airport for emergency instructions but were told the field was closed due to fog and that the airport had no instrument capability for an emergency landing. The pilots were instructed to return to Greenville.

Henry notified the tower that there wasn’t enough fuel to return to Greenville and that they needed to land immediately. After a period of silence, a voice said that they could land and that emergency preparations would be undertaken. They were then given specific and detailed instructions, which allowed the plane to land safely. Once on the ground, in a shaky voice, Henry thanked the air traffic controller for saving their lives. After a moment of silence, the controller responded, “What are you talking about? We lost all radio contact with you when we told you to return to Greenville.” “You what?” Henry asked, incredulous. “We never heard from you again,” the controller said. “And we never heard you talking to us or to anyone else. We were stunned when we saw you break through the clouds.”

Although these lives were saved, many more, obviously, are not. As to why this is, that must be left to God’s will and wisdom. But clearly, angels are more active in our world than many people would suspect. Like Elisha’s servant, if the veil were removed, the average person be stunned (2 Kings 6:15–17).

—The John Ankerberg Show, condensed