TRUE ANGEL STORIES!
(Listen while you Read MP3 Audio)
ANGELS IN AN AIR-RAID
Bang! Boom! Bang! Boom! Boom! The bombs were dropping all around. Buildings were
burning and falling. People were screaming and crying.
Almost all the churches had been bombed, all except the little Adventist church,
where Christian and Ketty, with their father and mother and some friends, were
talking together, wondering how long their lives would be spared, and whether it
would be their turn next to die.
As the bursting bombs came ever nearer and nearer, they could see through the
windows, great fires blazing all about them. Father, who was the minister of the
church, then urged them all to take refuge in the baptismal tank. It was not
much of an air-raid shelter, but the best they had.
This tank, which was behind the pulpit, was not very large or deep, but they all
crowded into it. Then they began to pray. What a prayer meeting was that!
Father prayed, and Mother, and then the children. Christian, just twelve years
old, remembered the thirty-fourth psalm, especially where it says, "The angel of
the Lord encampeth round about them that fear him, and delivereth them"
Over and over again he pleaded, "Send the angels, Lord, to encamp round about us
and deliver us. Send the angels, Lord! Send the angels!"
Then little Ketty, who was only four, began to plead: "Dear Jesus, Thou hast
promised to send Thine angels. Keep Thy promise. Oh, Jesus, send the angels!"
So they prayed.
What happened next may seem to some unbelievable, but it really happened. I know this minister well. He is one of God's noblest servants, and he told me the story himself.
As they prayed, the planes passed over, and the bombs fell farther and farther
away. When the sky seemed clear again, Father went out into the church to see if
all was well. It was. Not a spark of fire had fallen on the building.
As he stood there, thanking God for His goodness, there came a loud knocking on
the door. Going to see who it could be at such a time, he found two policemen
there, with many angry civilians behind them.
"Who was singing in this church just now?" they demanded.
"Singing?" he said. "Singing? Nobody. The church has been empty.
"You're not telling the truth," they said. "We heard the singing, and we want to
know what you mean by singing in here, when the city is burning and people are
dying all around you.”
"Come in and see for yourself," said Father.
They came, and found the place empty, and went away wondering.
So did Father. What could the police mean by saying that there had been singing in the church? He had not heard any.
Then the bombers returned. Again the dreadful hum of their engines became louder
and louder. Once more the bombs began to fall. So Father hurried back to the
baptismal tank and told the others the strange story the police had told him.
Then they prayed again. Once more, as the noise and terror of it all mounted
about them, Christian and Ketty lifted up their voices to God, saying, "Send the
angels! Send the angels, Jesus! Keep Your promise! Send the angels!"
And then they heard it too; that strange, sweet sound. Above the din of
destruction, above the bombing and the burning, they heard the sound of singing.
Beautiful singing, such as they had never heard before. And it was coming from
the church, just as the police had said.
And the song? It sounded, so he told me, just like the old, familiar hymn:
When the bombers had passed, all hurried out of the baptismal tank into the church. They found the building empty, without a sign that anyone had been there.
Then again there came the loud knocking at the door, as police and people came
to find out what it all meant. When, once more, they found nobody there save
this handful of grownups and children, they were amazed and could not believe
their eyes.
But father understood now. So did Christian and Ketty. They knew their prayers
had been answered. They knew that God had sent His angels to protect them, and
they, O joy, O wonder of wonders, they had heard them singing!
Today that Adventist church still stands in Surabaya, a monument to God's
protecting power over His people in time of trouble, a testimony that the angels
of the Lord still encamp round about them that fear Him, to deliver them.
GOD SENT HIS ANGEL
More than 80 years ago, there used to be coal mining near Harrisburg, Illinois. Old-timers in the area still talk about what happened. One day, the roof of a coal mine caved in, and those able to do so ran out. When the men were counted outside, there was still one man in that cave. Wives and children quickly gathered, and everyone began praying. When they tried to go back in for him, they found the tunnel blocked at a certain point by immense rocks; beyond it they could not go. The situation appeared hopeless. But the families outside kept praying.
Inside the coalmine, a man sat huddled in a corner in the darkness. Somehow, he had lost his headlamp, and did not know how to find his way out. So he sat there and wept. Then a man came over with a light and said, "I can help you. Come, follow me." As he followed the man, he wondered how the one leading him could be wearing white clothes, without one stain of black on them. White clothes in a coal mine, where everything you touched turned black! But he was too frightened to think much about it.
Soon his guide led him along the tunnel to a point where light from the entrance could be seen; and, just before turning to go back into the mine, he told the miner to continue on out. When the man emerged from the mine, there were tears and great rejoicing. Then he told them about the man dressed in white, who had entered the tunnel and brought him out. Apparently he had gone back in to bring out more men. Those outside, told him that there were no other miners inside, and that no man in white had gone into that tunnel; and besides, the tunnel was blocked with rubble. That is why they did not go in to try and find him.
Dear readers, God answers prayer! Heaven is no further away today than when God’s angels guarded Elisha or shut the mouths of Daniel’s lions. And you don’t have to be ‘somebody important’ or know some special ‘magic prayer’; just pour out your heart to God in the name of Jesus. No genuine cry for help will ever be ignored by our dear heavenly Father!
And think about that man huddled in the dark; he has lost his light; he has no way out. We are like that in this world. We live huddled in the dark; we have no light, and no way out. Just as God sent His angel to the poor miner, so He eagerly offers the mighty power of salvation to each lost soul. There is a way out, and God will lead you all the way!
WHEN THE ANGELS STEERED A SHIP
Reported by Henry Galus in ‘Fate’ magazine April-May 1952
In June 1887, the ‘Canton' left New Bedford, Mass., for the whaling grounds of the south Atlantic. After several whales had been killed and rendered, the ship sailed north to the island of St. Helena to unload the barrels of sperm oil and take on water.
Soon after the ‘Canton’ left the island, early in September, to return to the grounds, the ship assumed a course of her own in defiance of the helm and the wind. Time and again Captain Howland pulled the vessel back on the determined course, but each time she swung away, with a weird will to proceed in her own direction, her sails flapping in protest.
Captain Howland was a God fearing man. With his eyes on the sky, he said, “this is a good ship, and there’s no reason why she shouldn’t respond to the wheel. It must be the hand of Providence. Let her go the way she will. May God take us to where He wants us to go!”
During the next two days the Yankee captain spent most of his time standing silently at the rail, giving his orders gently. On the third day, First Mate Antone Cruz noticed a number of dots on the surface ahead. When the Canton drew closer, the dots became small boats, scattered, loaded with gaunt human beings, waving their hands and shouting hoarsely.
Captain Howland soon learned that he had rescued survivors of the British trader Monarch. The trader with over two hundred cases of dynamite in her hold, had caught fire seven hundred miles off the Cape of Good Hope. The flames quickly spread beyond control and the vessel was abandoned. Suffering from hunger and thirst, the passengers and crew had drifted about one hundred and fifty miles.
“Thank God for your rescue,” the captain told the survivors. “He was the skipper that brought us to you. Thank Him in humble prayer.”
Note: The survivors were taken to the Cape of Good Hope. Later the British Government awarded Captain Howland a solid silver teapot, and a gold medal.
JESUS IS WITH US!
Daniel chapter 3 tells the story about the three Hebrews who were cast into the
"burning fiery furnace" because of their faithful witness to God. When King
Nebuchadnezzar looked into the furnace to watch the three young men being burned
alive, he saw, not three people, but four. The Bible says that the king was so
astonished, that he "rose up in haste, and spake, and said unto his counselors,
Did not we cast three men bound into the midst of the fire? . . . Lo, I see four
men loose, . . . and the form of the fourth is like the Son of God."
Yes, Jesus does walk with His own, especially when they are in great need.
Sometimes, too, He sends His angels to guide and protect them. An angel saved
Daniel from the lions. (Daniel 6:22.) Another released Peter from prison (Acts
5:19), and yet another stood by Paul during a terrible storm in the
Mediterranean. (Acts 27:23.)
Of little children Jesus once said, "In heaven their angels do always behold the
face of My Father which is in heaven" (Matthew 18:10), which is clear proof that
every boy and girl who belongs to Him, has a guardian angel, appointed by the
Lord to care for and protect him. If we love the Lord, and try to serve Him
faithfully, spending our lives in the service of others, we may know that "the
angel of the Lord" has been told to encamp round about us and deliver us. (Psalm
34:7.)
Then, too, we may claim that beautiful promise in the ninety-first psalm, which
reads: "Because thou hast made the Lord, which is my refuge, even the most High,
thy habitation; there shall no evil befall thee, neither shall any plague come
nigh thy dwelling. For He shall give His angels charge over thee, to keep thee
in all thy ways." Verses 9-11.
So when we go on our missions for the Master, be they great or small, to lift up the fallen, or help some poor soul in need, we may expect to sense "the form of the Fourth" close at hand. And, wonder of wonders, this kind and watchful Stranger, at your side and mine, in every trial and danger, may be "like the Son of God."
