Angels:  God’s Supernatural Agents:  Biblical Insights and True Stories of Angelic Encounters, by Ed Rocha

[Note:  This book was provided free of charge by Chosen Books.  All thoughts and opinions are my own.]

There are some books that are written already to those who are in agreement with the author.  This is such a book.  It is unlikely that anyone will be won over by this book’s logic, and as the author talks about a great deal of material that is not subject to any proof, such as the existence of many photos of angels that were supposedly hidden or destroyed by one of the author’s previous ministers, one has to take it on faith that the author’s claims are true.  Given the fact that the author seems strangely dismissive and quite harsh of other people, it is hard to credit the author completely, even for a reader who has a strong degree of believe in the existence and activity of angels and the general influence of the spirit world on our physical world [1].  One of the most striking insights of this book was the way that the author connected a societal interest in demonic matters with the role of angels in spiritual warfare.

This short book is organized into various chapters that deal either with the author’s own accounts of angelic encounters, ranging from a dramatic example during the Korean War where angels helped the narrator (author?) capture some North Korean soldiers to examples of feathers as a sign for angels among many Brazilian believers, to speculations on the ranks of angels.  While many of these chapters are certainly interesting, they are not generally conclusive, as they do not have a lot of corroborating evidence.  Perhaps the most effective section of the book is when the author gives a lengthy series of angelic intervention into the lives of humanity with biblical citations.  One would wish for more biblical material and less speculation on the part of the author, as that would have made the book far more enjoyable to read and far more likely to convince those who were general believers in the Bible but who had not thought deeply or seriously about angelology, which is not too surprising as the subject is not focused on greatly in many churches.  This book is a fair picture of the interest of Brazilian charismatic Christians in the angelic world, whether or not that picture is likely to please American believers.

One of the most intriguing aspects of the book, at least to me, is the way that the author quoted the head of one of the organizations within the Church of God concerning the role of angels in humanity.  Seeing such a figure quoted as an authority was rather amusing to me, as it demonstrates just how far and wide the author is looking to find agreement with him for his views on angels.  The author’s commitment to writing about angels is certainly laudable, and he obviously has a great deal of passion on the subject.  For my tastes, though, I would have greatly preferred that the author be able to deal with the question of evidence by either appealing to the Bible as an authority or by providing truth beyond the author’s assertions as to contemporary evidence of angelic encounters.  I myself would give a certain degree of credence to anecdotal accounts given my own experiences and those I have heard, but I would have liked to see the author address this himself, as this book assumes the reader is going to be convinced by some pretty terrible rhetoric, and I do not like a book selling my critical abilities that short.

[1] See, for example:

https://edgeinducedcohesion.blog/2017/01/20/book-review-moving-in-the-apostolic/

https://edgeinducedcohesion.blog/2016/12/12/book-review-disarming-the-powers-of-darkness/

https://edgeinducedcohesion.blog/2016/11/24/book-review-a-rabbi-looks-at-the-supernatural/

https://edgeinducedcohesion.blog/2016/10/04/book-review-combating-the-lies-of-satan/

https://edgeinducedcohesion.blog/2016/08/22/book-review-the-spiritual-warfare-answer-book/