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"Let all the angels of God worship Him.” And of the angels He says: “Who makes His angels spirits and His ministers a flame of fire.” But to the Son He says: “Your throne, O God, is forever and ever.” (Hebrews 1:6-8)

“The four living creatures, each having six wings, were full of eyes around and within. And they do not rest day or night, saying: ‘Holy, holy, holy, Lord God Almighty, Who was and is and is to come!’” (Revelation 4:8)

“Then I looked, and I heard the voice of many angels around the throne, the living creatures, and the elders; and the number of them was ten thousand times ten thousand, and thousands of thousands, saying with a loud voice: ‘Worthy is the Lamb who was slain to receive power and riches and wisdom, and strength and honor and glory and blessing!’” (Revelation 5:11-12)

Do Angels Have Wings?

This is a question I have been asked several times, and it is not as trivial as it might at first seem. Neither is the answer, and the answer is NO. There are winged creatures but no winged angels, certainly not in the Word of God. The depiction of human figures with wings is a pagan concept born in the cradle of ancient Babylon, and, like most elements of that dark religion, it was transferred to Egypt, Greece and Rome and thereafter embraced and absorbed wholeheartedly into the Christian Church. Pictures of such fictitious beings can be found copiously spread throughout Christian art and have been imprinted in the minds of countless millions of children.

In Scripture, there are neither female angels nor any infant angels;  all appear as male and adult, "in the likeness of a man." (e.g. Daniel 10:5.16) Although it is not always spelled out to us, the angel may be the LORD himself  (e.g. Daniel 3:24.25) and sometimes this is made crystal clear. (e.g. Revelation 1:12-18) Whether it is the LORD or one of His servants, the visitor never appears as a human being with wings. The Oxford English Dictionary defines an angel as "a spiritual being believed to act as an attendant or messenger of God, conventionally represented as being of human form with wings." The erroneous tradition of portraying angels with wings is due to centuries of bombardment by Christian falsehood in art, but the description of the primary angelic role is right, the root Greek word being angelos (messenger).

Angels appear primarily as messengers with a critical directive or an announcement, in the form of news (Matthew 1:21, Luke 1:11-23; 2:8-15) or a warning (Matthew 2:13), often in the form of a prophecy of things to come. Sometimes they come to protect or set free. (Acts 12:6-11) Sometimes such a visitation brings the ultimate in bad news and punishment, often executed by unseen hands behind the event; the death of outright unbelievers (Exodus 12:23,29), a conceited king (Acts 12:23), counterfeit believers such as Israelites in love with Babylonian images (Ezekiel 8:7-9:11) or Christians in love with money and trying to sneak in amongst the elect. (Acts 5:1-10)

The LORD himself appeared to Abraham as three men (Genesis 18) to bless Abraham with the reconfirmation of a promised son, and to reveal the imminent destruction of the Sodomites, an obliteration from which Lot was spared by two similar visitors. (Genesis 19) That is exactly how all angelic manifestations appear in the Word, as anthropomorphisms, persons in the "shape" or "form" of men, who are themselves made in the image of God. There are no wings, no halos, nor any other religious rubbish attached to them.

To be sure, there are winged living creatures in the service of God, but they are not angels, not messengers. They are clearly in a separate category from angels (Revelation 4:6-8; 5:11) and perform different tasks. There is a distinct order of species in Creation, both in this world (each according to its kind, as we are told repeatedly in Genesis) and in the other dominion into which, at present, we are only permitted small glimpses.

We are given the names of only two kinds of winged beings in the higher realm, the Cherubim and the Seraphim. There may be others in this class of "living creatures" but we do not know. What we do know is that the Cherubim are nothing like the chubby babies portrayed in so many inane Christian pictures. That depiction of a "cherub" is as false as the word itself has been usurped and warped to describe such fat little airborne infants. Cherubim are breathtaking creatures, described by the prophet Ezekiel as awe-inspiring, blindingly radiant and deafeningly noisy in motion, like the sound of an armed multitude or great waterfall. We know that they may act as guardians of something sacred (Genesis 3:24), which is how they were depicted with outstretched wings covering the Ark containing the Ten Commandments. (Exodus 25:20,21) They also appear as attendants at the LORD's throne (Isaiah 6:1-2)) or as celestial creatures ridden by the LORD (2 Samuel 22:11, Psalm 18:10) or transporting His heavenly vehicle (Ezekiel chapters 1 and 10).

The majestic accounts in Ezekiel 1 and 10 are the most detailed descriptions that we have ever received concerning these "living creatures," informing us that they do have features such as hands, but they can hardly be referred to as human, having four hands, four faces (only one being a man's face), and four wings. They do not move anything like a man, nor do they speak to communicate any message. They carry and attend the messenger. These creatures, which Ezekiel first saw by the river Chebar (Ezekiel 1) are seen again by the prophet and identified as Cherubim. (Ezekiel 10) He says they are the same creatures as in his previous close encounter (verses 15, 20 and 22), having the same "appearance of the form of a hand" under each of their four wings. (verses 8 and 21) Seraphim, which also attend the LORD's throne, are undoubtedly just as impressive but they have six wings, as described by the prophet Isaiah (Isaiah 6:1,2) and they are most likely what the apostle John also saw. (Revelation 4:8)

Whatever these remarkable winged creatures are, they are not angels, and they are not to be worshipped. Abraham revered the Lord when he appeared to him in human form (Genesis 18) but not any other messenger. On many occasions the apostles and others also worshipped the ultimate messenger, not just as an appearance or likeness of a man but a real man in the flesh, Jesus Christ (Matthew 2:2,8,11; 8:2; 9:18; 14:33; 15:25; 28:9,17; Mark 5:6) and such reverence was received and accepted.

In his risen form, no longer as flesh and blood but as flesh and bone (Luke 24:39), Jesus continued to accept worship from his apostles. (John 20:28) Although he was able to pass through walls and appear as if from nowhere, he was not just a spirit. Neither were the messengers of old. Jacob physically wrestled with such an angel, who in that particular case turned out to be the LORD himself. (Genesis 32:24-30) That is the difference between Christ in his incarnation (literally, in the meat, flesh and blood) and in his glorified body. He once shared man's mortal flesh and blood (Hebrews 2:14) but has poured out that blood to redeem his elect and now has an imperishable body of flesh and bone. The elect are promised the same, to share that same reward, to be like him. (Ephesians 5:30; 1 John 3:2. A full explanation of why it could only be accomplished this way and no other can be found in God & Evil on this website) And in gaining this unparalleled inheritance the elect will gladly worship Him for eternity. 

Indeed, every single person will eventually bow down and worship Christ and acknowledge him to be the LORD, to their gain or loss, whether they like it or not. (Romans 14:11; Philippians 2:10; Revelation 5:6-14) But in the Word of God, if worship is ever misdirected to a messenger other than the Lord, the error is quickly rebuked and corrected (Revelation 19:9,10) because such veneration is reserved for God alone. No angel or any other creature on earth or in heaven is to be the object of such reverence or adoration. That is the substitution called idolatry.

The ancient Babylonians and Assyrians were well acquainted with the LORD's prophets, having held some of the major ones like Ezekiel  and Daniel in captivity around 600 BC, so they would have been familiar with the Israelite accounts of divine appearances. But they also had their own history, right from the beginning of their culture in Sumeria and Akkadia over 2500 years before that, and they were steeped in the tradition of blending the images of both male and female human beings with beasts and birds to create divinities for themselves. They twisted the truth and as a result became bent themselves, revering the mortal creature rather than the Creator, so the LORD sentenced them to a world of perverse beliefs and behavior. (Romans 1:22-27)

They invented supernatural forms that they considered sacred and portrayed them all over the walls of their temples and palaces. In effect, they created "stars" out of them, and that is exactly where they belong, in the realm of make-believe, whether they appear as ancient temple icons or in modern Church artworks or movie special effects. These fabricated creatures were sometimes called genii, the subject of many a Middle Eastern fable and clearly the forerunner of the fictitious winged Christian angel that is found in nauseating repetition in statues, stone reliefs, carvings, stained glass windows, paintings and book illustrations.

The winged human messenger is, for some Christians, almost a fixation or fetish, and it is merely one of the traditions from Babylon that was first cloned into ancient Greek and Roman mythology (in the sons of Bel-Zeus, namely Hermes-Mercury, Eros the youthful god of lust, Cupid the winged infant, and in goddesses like Nike) and then woven into the fundamental fabric of neo-Babylon, the Church. There are many more, and if you wish to understand how these primal Mesopotamian myths were all incorporated, not just into Christianity but into the whole global array of religions, you can find out all about them in The Dark Powers That Bind.

This is not idle speculation. Consider for instance, the ancient Greco-Roman city of Ephesus, the largest metropolis in Asia Minor with some 500,000 inhabitants living there in the first century AD. On account of the inhabitants' extreme idolatry the apostle Paul was forced to escape from the city in secret. (Acts 19) In an ironic twist it then became a critical center for the cult called Christians that rejected the teachings of the early disciples and turned instead to blending the Scriptures with pagan myths, especially those that involved female protectors and mother goddesses like Artemis-Diana and Nike-Athena. In order to create a mother goddess of their own, fables were invented about Mary living in Ephesus and ascending into heaven at the end of her life to become the mediator between man and God.

A major Church Council was later held at Ephesus in 431 AD to stamp the seal of approval on this concoction, including the proclamation that Mary was the Mother of God. Christians still flock there to gobble up these myths and to visit Mary's supposed house and the fictional tomb of Luke. A more detailed account of the role of Ephesus in Christian inventions can be found in The Truth Which Sets Free, especially Chapters 5 and 6 describing the devious antics of the Early Church Fathers and Councils.

Consider this interesting extract from the letter that the apostle Paul wrote to the disciples at Colossae, a town not far from Ephesus, where false teachers and doctrines were hatching and emerging like lice. "Beware lest anyone cheat you through philosophy and empty deceit, according to the tradition of men, according to the basic principles of the world, and not according to Christ...So let no one judge you in food or in drink, or regarding a festival or a new moon or sabbaths, which are a shadow of things to come, but the substance is of Christ. Let no one cheat you of your reward, taking delight in false humility and worship of angels..." (Colossians 2:8,16-18)

This passage is often misinterpreted (by supposedly learned commentators and even in some encyclopedias) to mean that the contemporary "pagans" were judging the early disciples of Christ for slavishly keeping various customs. That is rubbish. The elect were being criticized by the counterfeits, the early  neo-pagans called Christians who loved and embraced the pagan rites, for NOT taking part in their customs. The elect have always been judged by the religious hordes, and especially by churchmen, for avoiding such heathen (ethnic) garbage.

Paul was making it crystal clear that those ensnared by the "human traditions" of religious festivals, fasting or eating specific foods that were often associated with those festivities, ascribing importance to seasonal and astronomical dates, Sabbath worship and angel worship, were in fact the ones who were enslaved to a "deception" and that they were not holding to Christ as their Head, not part of his true Body. (Colossians 2:19) Exactly what Paul meant by "worship of angels" is not clear, but it is very possible that he was referring to the pagan custom of placing the image of a winged being (Ishtar, Nike or whomever) in preeminence at the top of the sacred tree in the great December festival of Saturn, a celebration kept throughout the Roman Empire.

Sometimes the peak of the tree was crowned with a gold star (Saturn) or silver star (Venus, Isis, Ishtar) and then adorned below with lesser stars or planets (shiny balls) representing other deities. Millions of Christians still keep this satanic tradition alive on their beloved Christ-mass trees, a "mass" that has absolutely nothing to do with the real Son of God and everything in connection with counterfeits, and a tree that has nothing to do with the Tree of Life but instead spells death to its admirers. Find out more about the dark origins of this tree veneration in The Truth Which Sets Free, Chapter 13, Church Festivals and The Dark Powers That Bind, Chapter 3, Canaan.

Winged "angel" with lotus, City Palace wall, Udaipur, India, c.1600AD or added later. In Hindu mythology angels are viewed as higher beings, gods or demi-gods. This particular stone relief is strikingly similar to Christian images, possibly influenced by Catholic missionaries to India from 1500AD onward, who were known to join Hindu processions to the deities, carrying Christian icons of their own. Catholics still do this, to this day.

Winged angels are only a tiny part of this gigantic fraud, which encompasses an immense web of fabricated legend, all carefully mixed with subtle intrigue and considerable ingenuity by the "father of lies" and by churchmen who love such falsehood. (John 8:44) The truth is as opposite and simple as it is glorious. As the apostle Peter put it, "For we did not follow cunningly devised fables when we made known to you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but were eyewitnesses of His majesty." (2 Peter 1:16)