Get your own Free Home PageDear FCFC,
1.Do you think that the angels in heaven can see us?
2.Do you think that if they could, they would be willing to pray for us?
3.And also if they could, do you think they could be willing to help us?
4.If they are willing to help us and pray for us, how would we communicate with them?
5.With that method of communication, do you think it legal to use it?
6.If it is idolatry to make images, what of the illiterate people who couldn't read?
7.Is it a sin to feel moved by an artistic representation of the life of Christ or the works of God?
8.Are the early Christians who painted many images on their churches and catacombs guilty of idolatry (this is like beginning at 150AD) (If yes, the gates of Hell prevailed against the Church VERY QUICKLY!)
9.If you are moved by a painting, would it be a sin to walk out of the museum, go to some secluded place and pray to Jesus?
10.If the answer of the previous question is no, then what is the difference praying in front of the painting, when you are not praying TO it?
Give me answers to these questions.
God Bless!
Jason Fairfield
Dear Jason,
Thank you for writing us. There has been a rise of interest in angels lately. Before I start, I would like to recommend to our readers, Biblical Demonology by Merril Unger. The subject of angels is quite an in depth study, and can barely be touched in the short space allotted, but we will do our best to answer you.
1.Do you think that the angels in heaven can see us?
Answer: If I understand this correctly, you are saying that angels, while in heaven can see all things and do not necessarily need to be “on earth”. If this is what you are saying, then my answer is no, I do not. I base my answer on Job 1:7. The Lord asked Satan, “Whence comest thou?” Satan answered, “From going to and fro in the earth, and from walking up and down in it.” Satan, one of the most powerful angels, is not omnipresent and must go “to and fro” “walking up and down”. In Daniel 10:12-14 we have another example of the inability of an angel to be present in two different places at the same time, making prayer to them unreliable, not knowing if they were around to “hear” that prayer or not, whereas we have the blessed assurance that God hears our prayers because He IS OMNIPRESENT:
“Then said he unto me, Fear not, Daniel: for FROM THE FIRST DAY that thou didst set thine heart to understand, and to chasten thyself before thy God, thy words were heard, and I am come for thy words. But the prince of the kingdom of Persia WITHSTOOD ME ONE AND TWENTY DAYS: but, lo, Michael, one of the chief princes, came to help me; and I remained there with the kings of Persia. NOW I AM COME to make thee understand what shall befall thy people in the latter days: for yet the vision is for many days.” (Emphasis mine)
2.Do you think that if they could, they would be willing to pray for us?
Answer: Although angels are qualified to help, and interested in our salvation, rejoicing when souls are born again and prodigals return, intercession is never their office.
“For there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus.” (1Tim.2:5)
Hebrews 1:7, 13, and 14 says of angels:
“...Who maketh his angels spirits, and his ministers a flame of fire...But to which of the angels said he at any time, Sit on my right hand, until I make thine enemies thy footstool? Are they not all ministering spirits, SENT FORTH TO MINISTER for them who shall be heirs of salvation?” (Emphasis mine)
You’ll notice that the angels are sent by God. I can find no instance of angels praying for us. We have one advocate, the Lord Jesus Christ. Therefore I would have to say no again to question #2.
3. And also if they could, do you think they could be willing to help?
Answer: Again, they are “sent” by God, to minister, which is help. But only God is all-knowing and able to answer prayer, and I can’t imagine that an angel of God, or a saint for that matter, could feel God’s judgments were unfair and plead our cause for us. Job 4:17-18 answers:
“Shall mortal man be more just than God? shall a man be more pure than his maker? Behold, he put no trust in his servants; and his angels he charged with folly.” (Job 4:17-18)
If God is for us, who can be against us, and likewise, if God is against us, who shall save us from His wrath? Shall an angel pray and deliver our soul? Can Mary or some saint make a more just judgment than God?
4. If they are willing to help us and pray for us, how would we communicate with them?
Answer: Hebrews 13:2 says:
“Be not forgetful to entertain strangers: for thereby some have entertained angels unawares.”
It is possible that one may talk to an angel unaware, but this does not mean that we ask them for anything. Our requests are made to God and God alone. When the Lord Jesus showed us how to pray, you will notice that the prayer was addressed to God, not angels or saints! “Our Father, who art in heaven”. Thrice we are forbidden to pray to them or worship them:
“LET NO MAN BEGUILE YOU OF YOUR REWARD IN A VOLUNTARY HUMILITY AND WORSHIPPING OF ANGELS, intruding into those things which he hath not seen, vainly puffed up by his fleshly mind....” (Col.2:18) (Emphasis mine)
“And I fell at his feet to worship him. And he said unto me, SEE THOU DO IT NOT: I am thy fellowservant, and of thy brethren that have the testimony of Jesus: worship God: for the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy.” (Rev.19:10) (Emphasis mine)
“And I John saw these things, and heard them. And when I had heard and seen, I fell down to worship before the feet of the angel which shewed me these things. Then saith he unto me, SEE THOU DO IT NOT: for I am thy fellowservant, and of thy brethren the prophets, and of them which keep the sayings of this book: worship God.” (Rev.22:8-9) (Emphasis mine)
There is no instance in the Bible of the angels of God interacting with man without it being at God’s direction and for an express reason or purpose. God’s holy angels are always sent, they NEVER come at man’s insistence, whether they be commands or pleas. When we begin to think of angels as beings we can pray to or through to change or control circumstances, we are then treading on the holy ground that is God’s alone. Another risk in petitioning angels is having Satan appear as an “angel of light” to deceive you. (2 Cor.11:14)
Jason, the Bible is so clear that we who are in Christ Jesus can approach the throne of grace “boldly”. (Heb.4:16)
5.With that method of communication, do you think it legal to use it?
Answer: Again...no need to communicate with angels...our prayers are to God.
6. If it is idolatry to make images, what of the illiterate people who couldn’t read?
Answer: “So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.” (Rom.10:17)
7. Is it a sin to feel moved by an artistic representation of the life of Christ or the works of God?
Answer: The question is whether or not it is the work of God or the work of Satan that “moves” you. A good example is when a Catholic looks at a statue of Mary and they feel inspired to pray to her, but when I look at a statue of Mary, it reminds me of how Josiah and Hezekiah broke in pieces the images, and how disobedient Catholicism has been in setting up idols and teaching her subjects to bow before them, burn incense and pray to the demons behind those idols (I Cor.10:19-20). It reminds me of Exodus 20:4-5:
“Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above...thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them; for I the LORD thy God am a jealous God....”
To say that images (paintings or statues) are necessary or even useful as being conducive to worship is bordering on blasphemy. Worship belongs to God alone. He does not wish for us to make an image of him to “help” us get into the right state of mind to pay him homage. If that is true, he certainly doesn’t want us to make an image of someone else, no matter how good or “saintly” they might appear, for that purpose either. God warned us saying:
“Take ye therefore good heed unto yourselves; for ye saw no manner of similitude on the day that the LORD spake unto you in Horeb out of the midst of the fire: Lest ye corrupt yourselves, and make you a graven image, the similitude of any figure, the likeness of male or female....” (Deut.4:15-16)
Worship and communion with God should be a constant spiritual and mental state, not an “event” that needs “preparation.” To think that you know what the apostles, the “saints” or God looked like is only imagination. Paul said we should be:
“Casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ.” (2 Cor.10:5)
We would not want to find ourselves amongst those that Paul described so unflatteringly,
“Because that, when they knew God, they glorified him not as God, neither were thankful; but became vain in their imaginations, and their foolish heart was darkened. Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools, And changed the glory of the uncorruptible God into an image made like to corruptible man, and to birds, and fourfooted beasts, and creeping things...Who changed the truth of God into a lie, and worshipped and served [pay homage to] the creature [apostles, saints, angels or Mary] more than the Creator, who is blessed for ever. Amen.” (Rom.1:21-23, 25)
For more information, please read “Diane’s Corner”.
8. Are the early Christians who painted many images on their churches and catacombs guilty of idolatry? (If yes, the gates of Hell prevailed against the Church VERY QUICKLY!)
Answer: Even in the lifetime of the apostles, the "mystery of iniquity" was already at work (2 Thess.2:7, Jude 4) The gates of hell will never prevail against the blood-bought church. Acts 17:30-31 says:
“Forasmuch then as we are the offspring of God, we ought not to think that the Godhead is like unto gold, or silver, or stone, graven by art and man's device. And the times of this ignorance God winked at; but now commandeth all men every where to repent....”
In Ezekiel’s time we see the same perverted use of idols:
“And he said unto me, Go in, and behold the wicked abominations that they do here. So I went in and saw; and behold every form of creeping things, and abominable beasts, and all the idols of the house of Israel...Then said he unto me, Son of man, hast thou seen what the ancients of the house of Israel do in the dark, every man in the chambers of his imagery?” (Eze.8:9-10, and 12)
If the Lord says, don’t make any images and bow yourself before them, He means it.
“...Wash thine heart from wickedness that thou mayest be saved. How long shall thy vain thoughts lodge within thee?” (Jer.4:14)
9.If you are moved by a painting, would it be a sin to walk out of the museum, go to some secluded place and pray to Jesus?
Answer: There is no reason why any man cannot pray to Jesus anywhere. The Lord tells us in John 4:24:
“God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth.”
I strongly encourage you Jason, to pray to Jesus and to Him alone. I am concerned that the very things God hates (idols) are the very things that “move” you. It is good to remember that we cannot trust our hearts, because “the heart is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked....” (Jer.17:9) Don’t trust your heart Jason, but rather trust the word of God. The word says:
“Every man is brutish in his knowledge: every founder is confounded by the graven image: for his molten image is falsehood, and there is no breath in them. They are vanity, and the work of errors: in the time of their visitation they shall perish.” (Jer. 10:14-15)
And again in Jer.13:10, we see that they refused the word and walked after the imagination of their hearts:
“This evil people, which refuse to hear my words, which walk in the imagination of their heart, and walk after other gods, to serve them, and to worship them, shall even be as this girdle, which is good for nothing.”
10. If the answer of the previous question is no, then what is the difference praying in front of the painting, when you are not praying to it?
Answer:
“And have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather reprove them.” (Eph 5:11)
“For rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft, and stubbornness is as iniquity and idolatry. Because thou hast rejected the word of the LORD, he hath also rejected thee from being king.” (1 Sam.15:23)
My last prayer for you Jason, is that you would turn from your idols to the living God. Repent for the time is at hand. Hopefully you won’t find yourself with those of Revelation 9:20-21 whose judgment is near:
“And the rest of the men which were not killed by these plagues yet repented not of the works of their hands, that they should not worship devils, and idols of gold, and silver, and brass, and stone, and of wood: which neither can see, nor hear, nor walk: Neither repented they of their murders, nor of their sorceries, nor of their fornication, nor of their thefts.”
Most Sincere,
Rebecca A. Sexton
Dear FCFC,
I'm very thankful that there's such a web-site for people who have gotten saved and left the Roman Catholic monster; or that are still unsaved and are concerned about what they are involved in, and need answers. Praise the Lord Jesus Christ for you all!!! May the Lord Jesus Christ continue to bless you and yours.
Waiting for the Change and the Trump, Bill Newton,
Charlotte, NC
Dear Bill,
Thank you for your encouragement. Just as you, we here at FCFC are anxiously awaiting the change also and our blessed hope, Jesus Christ’s soon return. If we don’t get to meet here, we will meet in the air, as the Bible says:
“For this we say unto you by the word of the Lord, that we which are alive and remain unto the coming of the Lord shall not prevent them which are asleep. For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first: Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord. Wherefore comfort one another with these words.” (1Th.4:15-18)
Awaiting His Coming,
Rebecca A. Sexton
Dear FCFC.
First of All, I want to introduce my self. My name is Miguel Cervantes. I am a student at the University of Texas At El Paso. First of all, I don't want to offend you, but everything that I see is hatred against the Only Church founded by Christ which is the Catholic Church. You are de facto committing HERESY. If you love the Lord so much and you have given your life to Jesus please do not make that kind of comments. The Catholic Church is the only church founded by Christ. All the others have been founded by men like Martin Luther, Calvin. I would like to have conversations with all the authors of those articles. Could you please give them my email. I would like to continue taking about this topics.
Miguel Cervantes
(I responded to Miguel Cervantes with the gospel of grace and shortly after received the following response.)
Dear Rebecca,
Hi. I’m a friend of Miguel Cervantes. I recently read a message that you sent him concerning the change that Christ brought to your life and the assurance of salvation that through His grace you now have. I have been talking to Miguel about his doctrine as opposed to what the Bible says. He has told me that besides the Bible there is also the apostolic tradition and that both should rule over the Christian community.
According to this tradition we are not able to understand the Truth unless we have the Catholic church to explain it to us. I totally disagree with him because in reading the gospel of John I found a verse that says that Jesus did many things but, that if they were to write everything He did there would not be enough books in the world to do it. John goes on saying that what he wrote, he wrote it so that people would believe and be saved. I have also read the entire Bible and I have noticed that the Bible has one message: Jesus is the only way to heaven and we have the Holy Spirit to lead us to the Truth. Now, what John wrote in the last verses of his gospel tells me that we can be sure that the Bible has the only Truth and that we need not to go to other sources to add to this Truth. The Truth found in the Bible is as complete as Jesus' sacrifice on the cross for the forgiveness of our sins. Whoever has Jesus as his savior is a member of the Church founded by Jesus Christ.
The purpose of my writing this message to you is to encourage you to keep living in the light under the guidance of the Holy Spirit. I am a Christian too and I am totally convinced that I have a place in heaven. "I know in whom I have believed" and I am sure you know too. May God bless you and give you the strength you need so that you can shine Jesus through your life.
IN HIS GRIP,
Fernando Gutierrez
P.S. Please pray so that Miguel can come to really know Jesus and not just know about Him.
Dear Fernando,
What a wonderful surprise your e-mail was. I thank the Lord that Miguel has a friend nearby to minister the gospel of grace to him. He is in our prayers.
So many people think that we are angry or we “hate” the Catholics, but as we have stated before, it is our love for the word of God and the Catholic people that compels us to continue.
In His Power,
Rebecca A. Sexton
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