What exactly is an angel? I think that the most common definition for angel in Webster's dictionary would be a spiritual being superior to humans in power and intelligence; especially : one in the lowest rank in the celestial hierarchy. I think that this definition would be accepted by most religions as at least close, in their idea of what an angel is. If we read the old testament of the bible we find that angels were used as God's messengers and sometimes to carry out His wrath or to help humans. When the angel of death was sent to wipe out all the first born in Egypt, the bible showed the penalty for interfering with and destroying human life.

Now here is the real question, do angels really exist or were they used in the bible to illustrate the power of God? There are people today that believe that the Jews were not slaves in Egypt, but were soldiers and were fully armed when they left Egypt. If this is the case, that would make the biblical story inaccurate. It is a funny thing with the bible, just when you think that something is fiction, you usually find a buried city somewhere that is the place that is being referred to in the bible and you begin to realize that the story told is probably true. The idea that angels exist goes far back into history. We know that the old testament refers to them. There have been quite a few cases where people claim to have seen the angels that were protecting them. Many soldiers claim to have seen warrior angels go into battle with them.

There are many stories out there about people being rescued by angels. I read one of these stories the other day and I would like to share it here with you. It seems that a family was out for a hike. There were three of them, a father and two children. They reached a point where there was a reservoir that was surrounded by step walls that were very slick and slippery. One of the children fell in. The father slid in after her and held out his hand, but she was out of reach. As he walked toward her the slope of the ground put him deeper and deeper into the water. He finally managed to lunge and grab the child, but now both were under water. As hard as he kicked he couldn't get their heads out of the water. He prayed very hard for help and stuck his hand out of the water. He felt someone grab it and lift them to safety, completely out of the water and on to the land about 10 feet above. He looked around and no one but his children were there. He know that he had been rescued by an angel.

What do angels look like. Traditionally, artists, have painted angels as looking like humans with wings. They usually look to be in their twenties and seem to be male. This is purely a guess on the part of the artist since I can not think of any angelic descriptions by God. This image has seemed to dominate history. When the New Testament quotes the experience in the tomb, where the body of Jesus was laid out, but had disappeared and an angel was in it's place, nothing was said about the angel having wings of any sort. We have all heard that there are also fallen angels who are under the command of Lucifer, or who is more commonly known as the devil. Would these angels look any different than the rest? I read a report that stated that a poll was taken and 78% of Americans believe in angels. Angels appear in Christian, Jewish and Islamic religions. I guess this is one of the very few areas that all three of these religions agree on. Here is the strange part of all this, our belief in angels has increased quite a bit from even 10 years ago. It is estimated that about 90% of Americans believe in God. This means that almost everyone that believes in God in this country, also believes in angels as there is only a 12% difference.

Children seem to tell of seeing angels a lot more than adults do. There are many stories of children who tell of their experiences with angels. One site on the internet tells of a twelve year old boy that started seeing angels and was telling everyone about it. Apparently no one really took him seriously until he was killed a few days later in an accident. I personally know of a person who, while on his death bed said that he was taken on a tour of hell by an angel. This is not a very pleasant thought, is it? One pastor of a church states that he heard a voice that directed him to take off his shoes because he was on holy ground. He ignored it until he realized it was the voice of God. He immediately took off his shoes and then saw three angels worshiping God. One man claims that he began to see angels when he was with a relative that had a stroke. He took him to the hospital and saw the reflection of an angel on the wall. Since that day they seem to appear with more and more frequency. He states that some have wings and some don't and that it is impossible to figure out their gender.

Are angels a reality or just a figment of someone's imagination? Since angels are part of our religious beliefs, it would probably be impossible to prove that they exist or disprove their existence. There is no doubt that they are mentioned in the bible and throughout the centuries many people have claimed to have seen them. Painters, sculptors and writers have been fascinated by them and there are many images of angels all over this planet. There are the race of angels that serve God and the fallen angels that serve the devil, if you believe in one of the world's three leading religions. Some people claim to have had experiences with angels. Many of these people are rational and respected people. We are not talking about kooks, but your average, everyday person. Some of these experiences are totally unexplainable and can only be accounted for by divine intervention.

So do angels really exist? I believe that they do and there is just no other explanation for some of the things that have happened to some people. This is a very strange world that we live in and there seems to be much that can't be explained and angels seem to be one of these things.