“The Father of the Lie”

Many so-called angelic encounters involve communication with the dead. “I had the feeling that my uncle had found a way to reach me and let me know that he was happy at last,” says a woman named Elise after receiving what she felt was a sign. Terri similarly remembers a dear friend who died. “A week after the funeral,” she says, “he came to me in what I thought was a dream. He told me I should not mourn his departure, because he was happy and at peace.”

Approach to Angels or to Demons?

Much of the current angel movement dabbles in the occult. Consider Marcia’s experience. “From September to December 1986,” she says, “I began to receive messages from ‘beyond the third dimension.’ I saw apparitions and had incredible ‘past life’ dreams. I contacted friends who had died and had many other psychic experiences in which I knew things about people I had just met. I also became blessed with the gift of automatic writing and transmitted messages from discarnates. Some, whom I have never met in their earthly lives, would deliver messages to others through me.”

The use of divination as a means to “communicate” with angels is not uncommon. One source outrightly encourages its readers to employ rune stones, tarot cards, I Ching coins, palmistry, and astrology. “Allow your inner knowing self to lead you to the right oracle,” the authors write, “and trust that an angel will meet you there.”