Souls, Spirits, Angels
Before I was born, I existed as an eternal, divine, spiritual being. I was an angel. My soul has always existed.
Angel of the Resurrection by Jeff O’Driscoll after Walker Hancock.
After I die, I will exist as an eternal, divine, spiritual being. I will be an angel. My soul will always exist.
Right now, I exist as an eternal, divine, spiritual being, wrapped in physical form. I am an angel. My soul exists in the present.
Sometimes we make simple things seem complicated.
A dear friend lamented to me during a difficult time that he wished he could ask his deceased father for advice. When I asked why he couldn’t, he explained he was afraid it would be an afront to God, that he should only pray to God.
I asked what he’d do if his father was alive. He said he’d visit with him and ask his advice.
“And, in doing so, you wouldn’t be worshipping him?” I asked.
“No, of course not,” he said.
“And you wouldn’t be praying do him?” I said.
“No,” he said. “I’d just be talking with him.”
I explained he could still talk to his father. The only thing that had changed was his father no longer existed in physical form. He was still an eternal spiritual being—an angel, some might say—who loved his son and was willing to communicate with him.
I don’t normally bring religion into my messages, but I want to make a point by offering one example. A friend recently felt beat up by her Christian fellowship because she’d experienced closeness and comfort from a deceased loved one. Her pious friends told her such experiences were of the devil.
Interestingly, Elias and Elijah, both dead for centuries, appeared to Christ and three apostles during the Feast of Tabernacles. It wasn’t a single person’s mere apparition. Four people experienced it together and the apostles offered to build tabernacles for their unexpected guests (Matt. 17:1-9; Mark 9:1-13).
Then, after his death, Christ appeared to two Marys, his apostles—even to Thomas who doubted—and to a multitude or five thousand (Matt. 28; Mark 16; Luke 24; John 20-21; 1 Corinthians 15:6). Christ demonstrated the verity of afterlife visitations, both as the recipient and as the visitor. How could Bible-believing Christians doubt the reality or blessed nature of post-mortal visits from loved ones?
It’s not complicated. Souls are souls, before birth, after death, and in the present, whether we call them spirits, angels or something else. We are all souls, spirits and angels. We communicate with each another across the veil of flesh. We’re here to help one another.
(Thumbnail Photo by Zoltan Tasi on Unsplash)