The similar phrase 'Worldly Christianity' is one used by Bonhoeffer. It's J Gresham Machen that I want to line up most closely with. See his Christianity and culture here. Having done commentaries on Proverbs (Heavenly Wisdom) and Song of Songs (Heavenly Love), a matching title for Ecclesiastes would be Heavenly Worldliness. For my stance on worldliness, see 3 posts here.
Showing posts with label angels. Show all posts
Showing posts with label angels. Show all posts

10 Negative works of angels as found in Scripture

This from my Heavenly Creatures blog

1. Striking the Sodomites with blindness Genesis 19:11 Then they struck the men who were at the door of the house, young and old, with blindness so that they could not find the door.
2. Striking dead rebels in the wilderness in Moses' time 1 Corinthians 10:10 And do not grumble, as some of them did - and were killed by the destroying angel.
3. Willingness to slay Balaam by sword Numbers 22:31 Then the LORD opened Balaam's eyes, and he saw the angel of the LORD standing in the road with his sword drawn. So he bowed low and fell facedown. 
4. Driving out the Canaanites Exodus 33:2 I will send an angel before you and drive out the Canaanites, Amorites, Hittites, Perizzites, Hivites and Jebusites. 
5. Beginning to destroy the Israelites in David's time 1 Chronicles 21:15 And God sent an angel to destroy Jerusalem. But as the angel was doing so, the LORD saw it and relented concerning the disaster and said to the angel who was destroying the people, "Enough! Withdraw your hand." The angel of the LORD was then standing at the threshing floor of Araunah the Jebusite. (See 2 Samuel 24:16)
6. Slaughtering the Assyrians 2 Kings 19:35 That night the angel of the LORD went out and put to death a hundred and eighty-five thousand in the Assyrian camp. When the people got up the next morning - there were all the dead bodies! (See 2 Chronicles 32:21, Isaiah 37:36)
7. Striking Zechariah mute Luke 1:19, 20 The angel said to him, "I am Gabriel. I stand in the presence of God, and I have been sent to speak to you and to tell you this good news. And now you will be silent and not able to speak until the day this happens, because you did not believe my words, which will come true at their appointed time." 
8. Striking Herod dead Acts 12:23 Immediately, because Herod did not give praise to God, an angel of the Lord struck him down, and he was eaten by worms and died.
9. More generally Psalm 35:5, 6 May they be like chaff before the wind, with the angel of the LORD driving them away; may their path be dark and slippery, with the angel of the LORD pursuing them.
10. Various judgements Revelation 8;5 etc Then the angel took the censer, filled it with fire from the altar, and hurled it on the earth; and there came peals of thunder, rumblings, flashes of lightning and an earthquake. (See also Revelation 16, etc).

10 Songs with the word Angel in the Title

  1. Angel (Eurythmics)
  2. Angel Fingers (Wizzard)
  3. Angel on the Mantlepiece (Charles O'Connor)
  4. Angel Wings (Focus)
  5. Angel Watch (Jan Akkerman)
  6. Angel Tonight (Leigh Nash)
  7. Angel Eyes (Roxy Music)
  8. Precious Angel (Bob Dylan)
  9. Fallen Angel (Gabrielle)
  10. Free Angel (T Rex)

If I had wings

On Freak Alley in Boise
(Artist Hannah Buekels. She references Isaiah 40:1 - we'll say more on that in a later post I hope).

Lord's Day July 15 2012

So another good day with the Lord's people in Childs Hill. We were a little down in numbers for various reasons. We looked again at angels and that was interesting. In the evening we took a break from Numbers to look at Luke 9:23-26. I have been thinking about the subject of self-denial recently and thought it might be good to tackle this seminal text. I'd hoped to say something fresh but I don't think there was anything new there. We had communion beforehand and I used some remarks from Thomas Doolittle to guide us, which I might post elsewhere. Oh yes, we also started on a Bible verse learning strand with 2 Corinthians 5:17.

Lord's Day July 8 2012

Carried on with my series on Ultimate Realities yesterday, looking at angels from Revelation 4. I felt a bit sluggish and thought I could have tried to say more. We finally finished looking at the 118 questions of the Baptist Catechism.
Once a month we have tea together before the evening meeting so that was on yesterday. We have decided to try and highlight some books for sale once a month too so (having stocked up at Met tab and at the Library lecture on Monday) I did that and sold 3 books - Joel Beeke's little book on prayer, the EP bitesize biography of Schaeffer by Mostyn Roberts and an old copy of Spurgeon's Letters. (Couldn't shift Calhoun on Princeton).
We were quite few by the evening but I looked at the last bit of Numbers 15 on stoning Sabbath breakers and wearing tassels and was quite lively. We sang I need Thee Oh I need Thee which we very rarely sing.