We are examining some Scriptures used to defend the belief in personal guardian angels.

1. Psalm 91:11 is thought to teach each believer has one assigned guardian angel (See Part 1).

2. Some use Mt. 18:10 to teach that each child has only one guardian angel assigned at birth.

This was the view of Thomas Aquinas in his The Summa Theologica. Question 113 addresses the guardianship of the good angels and Article 5 asks whether an angel is appointed to guard a man from his birth?

“As long as the child is in the mother’s womb it is not entirely separate, but by reason of a certain intimate tie, is still part of her: just as the fruit while hanging on the tree is part of the tree. And therefore it can be said with some degree of probability, that the angel who guards the mother guards the child while in the womb. But at its birth, when it becomes separate from the mother, an angel guardian is appointed.”

DO you believe you have a personal guardian angel? Many people think they do. For that matter, a certain woman in western Canada is said to have a special gift involving angels. If you give her your full name along with $200, she claims that she will put you in touch with your guardian angel. First, she meditates by focusing on the flame of a candle. Next, she has a vision in which your angel gives her a message to pass on to you. As a bonus, the woman provides a sketch of what your angel looks like. This example from this Jehovah Witness’s website is just one among many on the internet revealing the new angel craze or the Third Wave.

1st Peter 3:15 commands us to “be ready always to give an answer to every man that asks you a reason of the hope that is in you with meekness and fear.” The word “answer” is “apologiav” in the Greek and means “defense or a thoughtful defense of the faith.” One of the areas we need to “answer” has to do with alleged contradictions in the Bible.

Which of the following approaches to alleged contradictions fulfills 1st Pet. 3:15?

Michael Horton states the importance of inerrancy: “Whatever the holy, unerring, and faithful Father speaks is-----simply by virtue of having come from him----holy, unerring, and faithful” (page 184).

Only 13 percent of Americans see all Ten Commandments as binding on us today. Ninety-one percent lie regularly---at home and at work. In answer to the question, “Whom have you regularly lied to?” the statistics included 86 percent to parents and 75 percent to friends. A third of AIDS carriers admit to not having told their lovers. Most workers admit to goofing off for an average of seven hours---almost one whole day---a week, and half admit that they regularly call in sick when they are perfectly well. 

The survey also posed the question, “What are you willing to do for $10 million?” Twenty-five percent would abandon their families, 23 percent would become a prostitute for a week, and 7 percent would kill a stranger. Think of it! In a gathering of 100 Americans, there are seven who would consider killing you if the price was right. In 1,000 there are seventy (R. Kent Hughes, Disciplines of a Godly Man, Wheaton. Illinois: Crossway, 1991, 119).      

Obviously, the command by God “Be you holy” (1 Peter 1:16) is rampantly disobeyed

My first funeral was for 5-year-old Jimmy who died of leukemia. I preached the funeral of my 103-year-old grandmother. I have preached the funeral two suicides. One was saved and one was unsaved. I have preached the funerals of total strangers. I have preached the funeral of preachers. This past year, I preached the funeral of my Dad.

Preaching funerals is a delicate ministry and also a great opportunity to minister God’s Word and point the grieving to “the God of all Comfort” ( 2 Corinthians 1:3).

So how do we conduct a funeral?