Undercover Angelic Observers

Submitted by Alan Marsden on Fri, 03/02/2017 - 20:07

Few television programmes amaze me. Several entertain, many inform, but amazement, contrary to current popular usage, is rare. Tonight, I watched Spy in the Wild: Meet the Spies on BBC 1. It showed how robot animals were made in studios in London and Switzerland and made to look, move and sound like real creatures. They included sea otters and baby crocodiles. The real animals are pleasantly deceived into accepting the robots as one of their own kind. This not only allows these creatures to be filmed up-close but shows them behaving naturally, not believing that intrusive humans were observing them. The footage they filmed was as impressive as the skill with which they were made.

Readers will know that I often consider angels. By this, I refer not to fat, flying infants, but the powerful, intelligent beings of light created by God. We know that when they appear in their natural splendour, humans are terrified. This is why they often introduce themselves with the words 'do not be afraid'. Around such as these, we would never behave naturally nor confidently. Could this be why angels sometimes pretend to be humans? They that attended Sodom could closely observe humanity at its most naturally vile; they that, as the book of Hebrews records, seek believers' hospitality, observe us at our very best.