Angels on Assignment

Jim Croft

Hebrews 1:14 Are they not all ministering spirits sent forth to minister for those who will inherit salvation?

Hebrews 13:2 Do not forget to entertain strangers, for by so doing some have unwittingly entertained angels.

Mankind and angels are beings of separate, distinct species. Angels were created in heaven in an age before the world was formed. They have celestial bodies that are superior in strength to humans (1Co 15:10; 2Pe 2:11). The only angels that have wings are the cherubim and seraphim. The cherubs will have two or four and seraphim have six (1Ki 6:27; Eze 1:6; 10:14; Isa 6:1-3). Angels, cherubim, and seraphim are all majestic in appearance and sometimes frightening. When angels appeared to biblical characters, it was not uncommon for them to encourage them not to be fearful (Luk 1:13,30). Angels have a number of functions on behalf of the Kingdom of God and for the good of mankind. Some continually minister to members of the Godhead with adulations of praise. Others serve as emissaries to deliver specific messages from God to individuals. The majority of the time they minister aspects of God’s mercy to His people. They also orchestrate bringing those that don’t know Christ into the paths of those that can lead them to the cross. When they assist in these matters, they either remain invisible or take on the appearance of mere mortals. My parents and sister, Prudence and I, and our four daughters have encountered angels on numerous occasions.

The Man on the Back of the Car

When I was age nine and my sister was five our family took a trip on the Blue Ridge Parkway of the Smokey Mountains. The weather turned bad and the roads became icy. As we rounded a sharp bend, our 1951 Chrysler skidded off of the road and crashed through its stone guard rail. We were all dazed. When my father came to his senses, he realized that two-thirds of the car was hanging over a three hundred foot precipice. He commanded all of us to remain perfectly still until help came. My little sister, Candace, said, “Daddy, I see a big man sitting on the back of our car.” My father slowly turned around and said, “I don’t see anyone. Are you sure?” Her response was that he was still there. My mother and father spoke at the same time. “It must be the angel of the Lord.” My father and mother climbed into the backseat and opened the door that was closest to flat ground. My father got out first and then lifted us all to safety. Shortly afterward, a farmer came along in his truck and pulled the car back onto the road with a chain. Then my sister exclaimed, “The man just jumped off the back of the car!” The kind farmer towed our car to the next village for repairs, and my parents led us all in thanksgiving to God for sending His angel to help us.

The Extra Button

While my parents were living in Atlanta, Georgia, they had a beautiful home in the prestigious Club Drive area. It had a sewing room that was set apart for my mother’s passion for sewing. One of my father’s favorite sport jackets was purchased in Europe. It had leather patches on the sleeves and intricately woven leather buttons. My father had lost one of the buttons. Mom and Dad searched the house and car and could not find it. My mother uttered a prayer, “Lord, send one of your angels to help me find that button”. Several days later as she passed through the sewing room, she saw the button sitting on top of her sewing machine. She thanked the Lord and then sewed the button back onto the jacket. Later she mused that she must have put the button on the sewing machine and subsequently forgotten about it. Apparently, she was having second thoughts about presuming that God would send an angel to locate anything as insignificant as a button. Later that day she had to run some errands. As she got into her car, she saw a button on the armrest of her Cadillac. It was identical to the one she had just sewn onto my father’s sports jacket. Apparently the God who keeps track of the number of hairs on our heads is also interested in other mundane matters.

Glue Stick

Prudence frequently helps people with her interior decorating skills. She designed and constructed a built-in couch for one of her clients. When adding the piping around edges of the couch she saw that she didn’t have enough glue sticks for her glue gun. As usual she prayed about the matter. She asked the Lord to either stretch her supply of glue within the gun or to send an angel to fetch more glue sticks for her.

Three-quarters through the piping the gun ran out of glue. She checked her tool bag and looked for one that she might have missed and found none. She was preparing to leave to purchase some more sticks and laid the piping down at the end of the couch. When she did so, she saw a glue stick sitting on the floor. She knew that an angel had put it there, as she had not previously done anything on that end of the couch. She giggled with delight, “Thank you, Mr. Angel”.

You Have an Appointment

My father served under General George S. Patton in World War II. As his company was advancing, they routed the Germans from a village in Luxembourg. My dad’s company took some much-needed R & R after liberating the town. The only person who spoke English was a fourteen-year-old girl by the name Andrea. My father appointed her as the honorary mayor of the city and she became his interpreter. Fifty years later my parents went to Europe. Their purpose was to make a trek through the various cities that my father had liberated. At about 2:00 PM one afternoon they arrived in Andrea’s city. My parents located the family restaurant that Andrea’s parents had owned. My dad knocked on the front door and there was no answer. He then went to the back door and knocked. Still there was no response. As he started to walk down the path back to his car, he heard a voice saying, “Captain”. When he turned around, he saw a sixty-four-year-old woman that he recognized as Mayor Andrea. She said that she had recognized him by his distinct manner of walking.

Andrea took my parents to her home and introduced them to her husband. They ate together and spent the afternoon in reminiscent small talk. As evening came my dad led the conversation into spiritual matters. Andrea accepted Jesus as her Savior and Lord. When it came time for the two couples to part, Andrea’s husband fell into their arms and wept. Then they related the following story. Earlier that day they had been visiting another couple in a city about fifty kilometers away. They have no children, so no one knew of their whereabouts. Curiously, a man had come to the door of their friend’s home and asked to speak with Andrea and her husband. Neither of them knew the man that met them at the door. He said to them, “You have an appointment at your restaurant today at 2:00 PM. You cannot afford to miss it.” It was peculiar that he had not come by car. After delivering the message, he turned and walked away and disappeared from their sight. There is no doubt that this was an angel of God that had been sent by the Father to see to it that Andrea would be in the right place at the right time to hear the message of salvation.

A Bible for Narumi

Our third daughter, Holly, was married in August of 1997. One of the wedding guests was a young Japanese woman from Tokyo, Japan. Her name is Narumi Kanazawa. At Christmas time of that year, Narumi requested that she be able to travel from Japan to spend the holidays in our home. We were delighted to have her, and she began to call us her American Mommy and Daddy. She attended a New Year’s Eve party with Holly and her husband, Chris. During the party, she began to ask questions about Prudence and me. She expressed that we had something special that she would like to have. Holly told her that we were Christians and that Jesus had brought great peace and many blessings to our lives. Her response was, “I want that to.” Holly telephoned Kari, who led Narumi through repentance from sin and a confession that Jesus was God’s Son that He raised from the dead. Prudence and I wept for joy when the girls called us and told us of Narumi’s salvation.

The following morning I began to ponder how I could get her a Japanese Bible before she returned home. An angel of God placed one in my office that very morning. The following is the letter that I wrote to her on January 2, 1998, explaining what had transpired.

The Letter

Dear Daughter Narumi,

Your new little Bible is a token of the fact that God loves you and has been watching over you. The Bible speaks about how holy angels work for those who are appointed to have a living relationship with Jesus. I believe that it was an angel who placed your Japanese New Testament in my office. Here is how it happened. Early Friday morning I awoke with the plan of locating a store to buy you a Bible. When I went into my office, I picked up a magazine from my shelf and your Bible was lying under it. What a wonder, a brand new Bible in the Japanese language. I had never seen it before. Surely one of God’s majestic angels put it there just for you. God certainly must have a wonderful life planned for you.

The truth is you were dear to His heart before you were born. Far back in time before the world was created, He saw you living in this generation of time. He chose you for His purposes and reserved spiritual gifts for you that will enable you to fulfill the special plan that He has for your life. All through your life He has been watching over you and arranging strategic events which would guide you into an eternal relationship with Him through His Son, Jesus. He did not plan the things that have hurt you. However, by His power He has a way of turning bad things around so that in the end they work for your benefit. Now you are securely in His arms as His beloved daughter. You have been born again by the Spirit of God. His Holy Spirit will always be with you wherever you go. His Comforter now lives in you and He has given you the power of love, peace and a sound mind. You will never have to wrestle with the spirit of fear again.

Guidance

God is going to continue to bless and guide you in numerous ways.

1. As you pray, read the Bible, and fellowship with other Christians you will be built up spiritually and learn more about His will for your life and how He guides us.
2. His Holy Spirit lives in you. He will gently put thoughts into your mind and urgings to do certain things that will lead you on the path that is best for you. He will lead you to people that He wants you to touch for Him. Many times you will recognize that it is His voice speaking within you. There will be other times when you will be unaware of His guidance. On these occasions, as you look back, you will see that it was His hand at work in your heart and the events that happened in your life.
3. He will speak to you through gifts of the Holy Spirit as they are exercised through other Christians and yourself. Over time you will learn how these gifts operate in one’s life.

Bible Reading

Here is how I would like for you to start reading your Bible. Begin with the book of John and the book of Ephesians. You will find their beginning page by looking at the table of contents in the front of your Bible. Each book of the Bible is arranged in chapters and verses. If someone asks you to look up John 3:16, it would mean that you are to look for the third chapter and the sixteenth verse of the gospel, or book, of John. There are also three epistles, or letters, of John that are listed as 1, 2, and 3 John respectively. I will try to locate some good teaching material for you in the Japanese language.

A Good Church

It is also important that you find a good church to attend in your home city in Japan. I will attempt to help locate one for you. Christian churches go by various names. They have similarities in their basic beliefs, but differ in their various emphases. It could be compared to cars. Any car must have a body, doors, a steering wheel and an engine in order to qualify as a car. But they can vary greatly in their optional equipment such as color, size, and sound equipment. Here are some important things that you should look for in any church that you regularly attend. 1) They should believe that Jesus is the Son of God who was raised from the dead by God’s Holy Spirit. 2) A good church will teach that the only spiritual path which can lead a person into a complete, functional, eternal relationship with God the Father is by putting one’s faith in Jesus as the Son of God and His sacrificial death and resurrection from the dead. 3) Good churches preach that there is one God who is manifested through three distinct Divine Persons that flow together as One in perfect, harmonious unity. This is called the Trinity. They are one in their unity and operate simultaneously as three distinct Persons in their respective functions. It is much like water. All water is H2O. Running water is H2O. Ice is H2O. Steam is H2O. But steam is not ice and ice is not running water. God the Father is God. Jesus is God. The Holy Spirit is God. But, the Father is not Jesus the Son, and Jesus is not the Holy Spirit. 4) A sound church will believe that the Bible is the inspired word of God and our guide for faith and our moral behavior in this life. 5) It is important that any church that you attend emphasizes that the Holy Spirit of God gives contemporary Christians spiritual gifts such as healing and speaking in tongues just as He did in Bible times. 6) The church you choose should also teach the importance of prayer and telling others about faith in Jesus.

Here are some verses you can look up in your Bible which relate to some of the things that I have said in this letter: Ephesians 1:3-14, Romans 8:28-30 and 10:8-13, 2 Timothy 1:7-9 and 3:16-17, John 14:12-22, 1 Corinthians 12:1-13.

You are now truly our relative. We all belong to God’s family. You are both my sister and daughter in the Lord.

Much love,

Daddy Jim

“God, Do What Holly Said”

Holly’s husband’s name is Chris Van Buren. My father led him to the Lord shortly after they were married. Before coming to Christ, he was a decent man, but had little understanding of spiritual matters. He is continually amazed by the things God does. He is a cabinetmaker by trade. Recently, he was building a cabinet from driftwood for a client. He had purchased some antique hinges for it at a flea market. He found that after installing one of the hinges that the other was missing. He looked all over the shop and could not find it. He called Holly and she came and helped him clear everything from the garage in their quest for the hinge. The baby began to fuss, so Holly had to abandon the search. As she walked into the house, she said, “Lord, send one of your angels to help Chris find that hinge”. Chris made another thorough inspection of the entire garage, including the cabinet that needed the hinge. The search yielded no results. In exasperation he said, “God, do what Holly said.” When he turned around, his gaze fell on one of the shelves of the cabinet that needed the hinge. The missing hinge was sitting on the shelf that was directly in line with the place on the cabinet’s door where it was to be installed.