The Big Question – What About Worshiping Angels?
Mark Virkler continues his in-depth interview with his daughter Charity Kayembe on her new book, Everyday Angels.
Question: Let’s start with an email from a reader. I received the following response to our latest article stating, “I do wonder about the practices mentioned in Colossians 2 and the worship of angels…” This is a good point! What about those Scriptures? What is it that Paul is trying to tell us?
Answer: I’m glad you asked. There are only three verses in the entire Bible that say anything negative about engaging angels – and that involves worshiping them. We are not worshiping them, and make that crystal clear. Let’s take a look at the passage that causes so much confusion and misunderstanding:
“Therefore no one is to act as your judge in regard to food or drink or in respect to a festival or a new moon or a Sabbath day—things which are a mere shadow of what is to come; but the substance belongs to Christ. Let no one keep defrauding you of your prize by delighting in self-abasement and the worship of the angels, taking his stand on visions he has seen, inflated without cause by his fleshly mind, and not holding fast to the head, from whom the entire body, being supplied and held together by the joints and ligaments, grows with a growth which is from God.” (Col. 2:16-19)
What are these verses talking about? It is specifically about not listening to someone else who thinks they are spiritual because of their visions. It’s just telling us not to pay attention to someone who worships angels.
More importantly, let’s look at what the passage is not saying. It is not saying: “You Colossian Christians, don’t worship your angels.” Because our holy guardian angels will never receive our worship. They’re faithful to God, so that’s essentially a non-issue.
Instead, this passage is referring to some prideful, judgmental person with vain ramblings. This person is not holding fast to the head, who is Jesus, which means he’s not even a Christian. And this unbeliever worships angels. Well yes, obviously they shouldn’t do that, but there are a lot of other things they’re doing that they shouldn’t be doing either.
We don’t care what this person is saying. We don’t care what this person is doing. In fact, that’s what Paul is telling them: “Don’t let him judge you. Don’t even listen to him.”
That’s it.
It is not a stern and frightening warning about us, as Christians, having a conversation with the guardian angels assigned to us. It is not a cautionary threat about engaging or partnering with our holy angels. This is significant. It’s important for us to always look at Scriptures in context to gain a clear understanding of God’s heart.
We also examine this passage in Colossians on the CDs and DVDs in light of Gnosticism, which had heavily influenced the culture to which Paul was writing. That is, the people mentioned worshiping angels in Scripture were not believers and they were not deceived into worshiping angels. They were doing it on purpose, because they believed God was too lofty and unknowable for humans to worship Him directly.
Obviously since we are teaching the 5 Scriptural Safeguards for Spirit Realm Navigation which includes, most importantly, being saved by Jesus and entering the spirit realm by His cleansing blood, this Gnostic teaching does not apply to us.
To be clear, this is how we teach you to enter the sacred supernatural:
- Through JESUS. He is the way, truth and life (Jn. 14:6). He is the door and through His blood we enter the spirit realm safely (Jn. 10:9).
- We must believe the Bible is God’s inerrant Word, therefore all our spiritual experiences must align with biblical principles.
- We demonstrate our love for God by reading and knowing His Word.
- We have an attitude of submission to God by obeying His Word, living in a way that demonstrates He is Lord in every area of life (ie, not just believe it, not just read it, but LIVE it and allow the Living Word to transform our lives).
- We always submit to our multitude of counselors, sharing our spiritual experiences with them for confirmation and adjustment because in them are wisdom and safety (Prov. 11:14; 2 Cor. 13:1).
If we step into the spirit realm using these principles, we can do so confidently and without fear.
Question: Well, I agree with that! Let’s address one more important area related to this discussion. Can you tell us how often in Scripture believers were deceived into accidentally worshiping fallen angels?
Answer: Never. Not even once.
You’re right, it seems this is one of the biggest concerns some Christians have, they are afraid of being deceived and accidentally worshiping a fallen angel. However, there is NO record in Scripture anywhere of any believer actually doing that. Therefore, biblically speaking that fear is not justified.
Question: Well, that is really good to know and something very helpful we definitely want to be aware of. Okay, last one. Where then in the Bible can we find the clearest teaching on not worshiping angels?
Answer: Awesome question. The answer clearly shows us that we should listen to angels, because the most direct instructions we have anywhere in Scripture on not worshiping angels, were delivered by an angel himself (Rev. 19:10).
Every time a believer bowed down to worship an angel in Scripture, the angel said, “Oh hey, wait a sec. Actually, it’s just me, your fellow servant! Let’s go worship God together” (Rev. 22:8-9). And the vision continues. No punishment is given. No condemnation or wrath meted out. There’s not even a guilt trip.
In Revelation, John almost accidentally worships an angel. Jesus is right there and sees the whole thing! Does He get upset? Is He angry? What about sad? Is Jesus offended? Did John hurt His feelings? Not at all.
Jesus allowed the angel to continue to share heavenly secrets with John (Rev. 22:10-11). Jesus continued telling John wonderful revelations and promises (Rev. 22:12ff). Again, Jesus was right there and could have easily given John the tour of Heaven Himself, but instead, He chose to use an angel. This is how God works.
And this was a worst case scenario – falling down to worship an angel – and there were NO NEGATIVE REPERCUSSIONS whatsoever. Satan has twisted these verses to make us afraid of God’s judgment, when really they are powerful glimpses into His heart of love and compassion for us. These verses are a wonderful promise from God Himself showing us that He will not allow His children to be deceived.
If we believe satan’s power to deceive us is greater than our Father’s ability to protect us, we are deceived already. Again, there is no example anywhere in the Bible of a Christian being deceived into worshiping a fallen angel.
This is significant, showing our fears are not biblically based, but seeds of fear from the enemy. We must understand the Law of Proportion and take all 365 Scriptural references on angels into consideration, not allowing 3 seemingly negative verses to outweigh the other 362. If we did that, we would be allowing satan to steal entire chapters and books of the Bible from applying to our lives. May it never be!
Instead, we see one important truth Revelation unveils is that we can have 22 chapters full of conversation and interaction between ourselves and angels, and it can be prophetic, instructive, encouraging, and safe. We know these things were written as examples for us (1 Cor. 10:11). The Bible is meant to be lived!
Want to Learn More?
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- And if you live in the Midwest, we invite you to join us next month for our Everyday Angels Workshop in Tipton, Indiana. It’s going to be an awesome time of revelation, impartation, and activation. We’d love to see you there!