Entertaining Angels in the Form of Strangers

"Do not neglect to show hospitality to strangers, for by this some have entertained angels without knowing it." (Hebrews 13:2)

(Backstory to the song “He's Making A Way”)

From ἀγγέλλω aggellō (probably derived from G71; compare G34; to bring tidings); A MESSENGER; especially an “angel”; by implication a pastor: - angel, MESSENGER. (Strongs)

We never know when an angel will be dispatched into our lives, do we? It’s not like we get a warning. Just think, what would it be like if we had a heads up from the Father? Would it go something like this? “Son now I just want you to be aware that you’re going to have an angel visit you today, so just be ready!” What would we do then? I can tell you that if I knew whenever an angel was about to show up at some point during the day, I’d be so distracted in my imagination playing out how the encounter was going to happen that I would probably miss it completely. Who knows? I’d somehow screw it up I’m sure.

I have always pondered in my heart the scriptures Hebrews 13:1-2. How does that work? What are we supposed to think of the word “entertaining” when it comes to angelic visitations in the light of the fact that they may appear as strangers? How are we to prepare? I mean are you supposed to put out tea and crumpets or get the barbecue going whenever a stranger shows up? This is why we must be hearing from the Lord, acknowledging Him in all that we do, at all times.

I would presume to say that many miss the opportunity to entertain a “stranger angel” because they do not pursue the gift of hospitality. I mean to say, not everyone in the Body of Christ is as hospitable as they could be. Just saying. If this gift is not active in our lives’ there is a strong possibility we may have had the chance and missed it. God bless the hospitable. Even so, entertaining an angel isn’t always dependent on whether the stranger is willfully treated to a helping hand of hospitality. Sometimes, or maybe even most of the time, the “stranger angel” shows up with a message that gets entertained rather than the one who delivers it.

The faith to do the right thing in the moment comes in the hearing. Those who have ears to hear clearly recognize the glory and the shift when the “stranger” shows up. They have been trained, matured and refined to hear in the spirit. It has to be by the Spirit of God that we are able to enter into these divine encounters as His anointing and appointing allow us through His direction. I have learned through experience not to try to wrap my mind around it. It goes without saying that if you struggle to comprehend how these things work, then it’s probably not for you to figure out. Some things we just accept as His divine providence and leave it at that. You can see how the glory would be misplaced if you had anything to do with the steps that only the Lord can order. By divine inspiration of faith, you just roll with it.

I have had many encounters with “stranger angels” throughout the years. Messengers that the Lord used to turn the tide of my life. Most encounters I was completely ‘unaware’ of only to realize what had happened after the fact. Such as the 89-year-old farmer in Carthage Tennessee that looked up from his eggs and flapjacks and began to prophecy into my life out of the blue. A man I did not know who had no knowledge whatsoever of what I was going through in my life. A complete stranger. A stranger with a message of encouragement that I needed desperately. The Father sent His Word through this stranger to see me through the seemingly unnavigable waters of turmoil I was wading through in my mind. Like the scripture says in Hebrews 13:2, we may have entertained our “stranger messenger” UNAWARE!

While I was writing the song “He's Making a Way” that is on our new album “I Am a Son,” I was motivated by many miraculous encounters with the super natural love of our Father where He has made a way for me where there seemed to be no way, simply by putting a ‘messenger’ in my path. Writing the song flowed easy from the pen because I know intimately the power of God unto salvation in so many different ways. The Lord Jesus is not just our Savior and Healer, but He is our Protector and our Deliverer. The full package! The real deal! The Father has proven to me that He is an ever-present help in whatever our times of trouble and need are. He loves to show up and He loves to show off. He loves the unexpected and He loves to move suddenly! He is our Supernatural God!I have come to understand and appreciate that there is no limit or boundaries to the ways that the Lord God delivers His message to us so that His will can be accomplished here on earth. He uses just about everything you can imagine from His people here on Earth to His angels from Heaven who He sends to earth to deliver the message or carry out His will to produce His desired effect. This is a testimony of how the Lord made a way for an Elder in the village of Ambler Alaska and his family to escape certain death when they were trapped inside their home that had caught on fire. A “STRANGER ANGEL” would put the wheels in motion for them to survive.

"Teach me to do Your will, for You are my God; let Your good Spirit lead me on level ground." (Psalm 143:10) 

I probably would have completely missed my ‘moment’ if it wasn’t for the way that this particular angel was presented to me that fateful day in Ambler Alaska. Thank the good Lord that I didn’t have anything to do with the order and arrangement of things to come. Had I not responded appropriately in the moment of my visitation the way that I did, Tommy, his wife Elsie, their son James and his infant daughter would have perished in the ensuing fire. My divine curiosity turned into a full cooperation with His plan and purpose to accomplish that for which this “stranger angel” had been sent. Somehow in my innermost being I knew that I was supposed to obey, like I was on auto pilot, I simply rolled with it. My life and safety were not an issue within the context of what I was about to experience.

Perfect Love saturated the atmosphere. Fear had no place in what was about to transpire. All thoughts of my own personal safety had flown out the window. Somehow, I had been set in motion, as if I was thrown into an unstoppable river of forward momentum that was filled with single minded focus and supernatural courage for what I was being commissioned for.

"The steps of a man are ORDERED by the Lord, and He delights in his way." (Psalm 37:23)

Charlie Mouse was sitting in his wheelchair in the backroom of his Aunts house. I loved Charlie Mouse. He was a fighter. He was a paraplegic. Charlie had found an old rusty 22. caliber rifle that had a live round in it when he was eight years old. Like any youngster without any previous gun safety instruction, his curiosity coupled with ignorance got the better of him. While picking up the loaded gun it went off shooting him in the stomach severing his spine paralyzing him instantly. By the time I had met him he had been in the wheelchair for a good 40 years. Charlie loved the fact that I played guitar and had won my heart by coming over to hear me play whenever he could. Eventually he had talked me into giving him lessons. On this particular day we were in the back room where we could get away from the noise of village life such as the constant roar of four wheelers flying by. It is easier to teach music without all the racket. That’s when the “stranger angel” came walking through the door.I didn’t feel the atmosphere shift immediately when the angel came walking in. It never registered in my mind that the young stranger standing before me was an angel. We heard the door open from the outside. Who could that be coming in? The door to the room suddenly opened up. No knock. Nothing. There she stood; a little girl who looked to be no more than seven years old. She couldn’t have been any more than four feet tall at the most. I looked at her and thought to myself, “where did she come from?” I had never seen this girl before in my life. She was a stranger. She pointed at me. “You have to come with me now.” That’s when the gravity of the situation settled within me. The shift was taking place… I did not know what it was but, in my spirit, I knew that I had to obey this young “messenger.” I’ve had those feelings before where I know that something big and extravagant is about to happen. Like my friend Todd Jones used to say when the Holy Spirit glory would manifest, “here we go!” My life was about to change forever.

I didn’t blink an eye. I just put my coat on and followed the little girl out the door. I didn’t say a word to Charlie who was sitting there in his wheelchair holding his guitar. I was completely obedient to this little stranger who had come with so much authority. I remember being very curious. What was it? I didn’t have a clue what was going on, but I knew that whatever I was doing it was the right thing to do and I was simply caught up in the middle of it. I followed her down the stairs to where a four-wheeler was waiting. It was still running. I looked at her and she pointed to the other side of town. I could see a thick black cloud of smoke with flames shooting up 30 feet into the sky. It was then that I knew what I was supposed to do. She said, “you have to go.” Without giving it a second thought, I got on the four-wheeler to head that direction. When I looked back to give her a look of assurance, she was gone. For some reason I didn’t take the time to figure that one out. I was headed towards the cloud of smoke and fire full throttle.

“When you pass through the waters, I WILL BE WITH YOU; and through the rivers, they will not overflow you. When you walk through the fire, you will not be scorched, nor will the flame burn you." (Isaiah 43:2)

When I came over the rise there it was. A house was fully involved on fire. I could see the flames raging on the back side of it from where I was approaching. The side I was on had not torched yet. It didn’t have long. The flames were beginning to show from underneath the building that was built on stilts. There was a dog team chained up to posts directly next to the house and they were struggling to break free. The terrified dogs were out of their minds with fear. No time to save them. There were at least 30 people standing there watching. They all seemed to be staring at a particular window. The weightiness of the situation was fully upon me. They were all frozen in fear just standing there looking at the window, gridlocked in their minds about what to do. There had to be someone in there I told myself. It was as if I knew. I shouted with urgency, “is there anyone in there?!”They all pointed to the window! That’s when I saw what they were all looking at. Inside the house at the window was an elderly man and his wife staring out the window with a look of helplessness in their faces. I could see a younger man as well and he was holding a baby. All I could think was “if they don’t get out now, they will all die in the next five minutes.” I grabbed a rock and threw it as hard as I could at the window shattering it. I screamed “jump!” as loud as I could above the roar of the flames. I had never met these people before but that was about to change. They didn’t know me and I didn’t know them but they understood that this was the moment of truth.I could feel the heat of the flames as I ran up to catch the elderly Elsie. She was in her 80’s. She had a very slight frame and I easily caught her in my arms. I realized right away that the trauma was more than she could bear when she began clutching at her heart. She was having trouble breathing. I ran her back over to the crowd and handed her to some Forest Service workers who were standing far away remaining spectators, “She’s having a heart attack! Get her to the clinic now!” They snapped out of it.

I never could understand why they just stood there. The spirit of fear is a killer. We never know how we are going to react in a life and death situation. I imagine many have perished because those who were near an incident were too consumed with fear to make a difference in the moment. But that’s my personal opinion. Everyone is different. There is something to be said about our first responders who do not hesitate in the face of great danger. They are born for it; their courage is a gift to us all.

I turned back to see that James had the child wrapped thickly in a blanket. As I ran up to the window, James tossed the baby girl to me. I ran her away from the house into the arms of woman who was standing close by. James had jumped clear of the house leaving Tommy remaining in the building. What was Tommy doing? He was taking so long to jump. I could see him fumbling around with something. He was taking so long!I didn’t know it but 30 years before this event Tommy was in a helicopter accident and survived. The search and rescue team did not find the crash for three days. Tommy lay in the wreck trapped by the weight of the machine while his leg was slowly cooked off up to the knee by the smoldering fire. He would have bled to death were it not for the cauterization of the flames. He was no stranger to fire and had determined that he would get his prosthetic on before he jumped. He did not want to leave it behind. Tommy was a man of faith and he was a survivor, but his attachment to the prosthetic would soon prove to be the cause of great suffering. It would cost him dearly.

“Because he has loved Me, therefore I will deliver him; I will set him securely on high, because he has known My name. He will call upon Me, and I will answer him; I will be with him in trouble; I will rescue him and honor him." (Psalms 91:14-15)

I watched to see what Tommy would do. I prayed “God get this guy out of there.” The thought of knowing a man was trapped in the burning building was traumatizing to me. I was desperate for him. I was praying continually. Tommy’s story would have been different if he had not made the choice to put his prosthetic on complicating things to the point where only the Father in Heaven could make a way out of that fire for him.

As Tommy jumped from the window the prosthetic came off sending Tommy head first out of the window. Desperate not to land head first, potentially breaking his neck, Tommy used his arm to grab the window sill to break his fall. The shards of glass that remained penetrated his skin and muscle to the bone catching him for a moment only to sling him feet first under the edge of the house. Tommy was under the edge of the house and he was beginning to catch fire. His arm was laid open to the bone filleted from the elbow to the wrist. Instantly the fire cauterized the wound and there was no bleeding. He would have bled to death if it were not for the heat. I ran in to pull him away from the fire. As I got close my hair caught fire, then my jacket. I reached out and grabbed his arm in the intense heat and his skin just came off in my hands. My right hand began to blister. I ran away leaving him there as he cried out to God because of the intense pain he was enduring.

"May He send you help from the sanctuary and support you from Zion!" (Psalm 20:2) 

As I ran away, I tore my jacket off and tossed it. I started patting down my head trying to put my hair out. My face was blistering and my hand was as if it were melting where I had tried to grab him. The searing pain was unbearable. I reasoned with the Lord “I can’t do this on my own. I need help. In the Name of Jesus give me the strength to go back in there and pull him out Father!” Then I heard the Lord say in an audible voice loud and clear, “Go back in and pull him out, I will be with you in the fire.” Now I don’t know if you have ever been near a building that is fully engulfed in flames but let me assure you that the heat is so intense that everything around the building spontaneously combusts. By this time the dog team that was tied up along side of the house had been completely incinerated. It seemed like we were going to lose the Elder Tommy as the situation looked impossible, but I know what I heard. I didn’t think twice. He was making a way for me where there seemed to be no way!I turned towards Tommy and ran up to the house believing what I heard the Father say. Just as I approached Tommy, alongside of me, seemingly out of nowhere, a man I had never met before joined me in the effort. He grabbed one side of Tommy risking his life as well, helping me to pull him out from the place where he had fallen. It was man named Alu I would later come to find out. I was grateful. We got Tommy at least 50 feet from the house then began taking his clothes off. He was burned over 75% of his body. His arm was laid open to the bone but not bleeding. He was severely burned from his ears all the way down to his foot. A young man was standing close by. Without even thinking about it I ripped his t-shirt right off with one swift move and used it to wrap Tommy’s arm.“Get him to the clinic” I hollered at the crowd. I turned to look back at the house when the one-hundred-gallon propane tank alongside of the house blew the valve and a forty-foot torch of flame began to blow from the cylinder with the sound of a jet engine. It never registered in my mind that the tank was even there. It was if I never saw it but when it blew, I realized the extent of the miracle I had just been involved in. This tank of propane could have exploded killing us all! If it had blown the valve while we were right there getting him away from the house all three of us would have either been killed or severely maimed and disfigured from the intensity of the flame. God had truly made a way for us where there seemed to be no way!Later I would come to find out that the man I had saved was an Elder and Pastor for the Friends Church of the Northwest Arctic Territories otherwise known as the NANA Region here in Alaska. Because of this incident everyone in the region came to know who I was. Years later I would receive a Word from the Lord during a meeting where Bobby Connor was the guest speaker. It was a confirming word concerning the Lord’s plan. The Word was directly referencing the favor I had achieved with the Inupiaq because of the actions I had taken during the rescue. Bobby Connor was teaching when he quoted the scripture that says “all may prophecy,” then he declared it over the congregation. He then had us pair up and wait on the Lord, to hear what He had to say. The man that was standing next to me nailed it. He said, “I hear the Lord saying that He has given you the North and that you are welcomed to go where most white men will never be invited.” Wow! This man had never met me a day in his life! But God knew. It’s true, since then I have been given an Inupiaq name and am no longer treated as a “stranger” in the land.

MANNILAQ

A True Alaskan Prophet

The Inupiaq word for ‘stranger’ or ‘foreigner’ is nuluagmuit. As long as they call you that you are not one of them and are not considered a member of the tribe or family. Before the fire this is how they referred to me. I was an outsider. I was not considered one of them. I was never offended by it. The truth was that I did not know their ways or customs. I stumbled along most days not even understanding the language. Forever asking them, “what does that word mean?” “How do you say that word again?” But that all changed after the shift came. Everything changed for me after the fire. They welcomed me as one of their own.

I remember the day my father in law told me that I was no longer a nuluagmuit and that I was Inupiaq now. A real person in their eyes. I was undone. I was no longer to be considered a stranger nor a foreigner amongst them. They began to invite me to hunt alongside of them in many scenarios. I was even invited onto and made a full member of a Barrow Whaling crew. I also enjoyed full access to every right and privilege that being an Inupiaq in the land brings among the people of Ivisaappaamuit, which is translated “the mouth of the river.” Interesting that the root word of Ivisaappaamuit is Ivisaat, is translated “red paint,” symbolic of the Blood of Jesus. This place called Ambler has great significance and destiny concerning the people of the Kobuk River Valley and now I was one of them.

The mouth of the Ambler river at Ivisaappaamuit pours into the Kobuk River prophesying the destiny of this land called “red paint mouth of the river” in Inupiaq. Ambler will be an epicenter of His glory and a place of great outpouring! This is the region where the Gospel originated generations before the white ‘nuluagmuit’ arrived with the ‘book’ that Mannilaq the Prophet had foretold. The Eskimo Prophet Mannilaq perhaps had the most incredible testimony of all with a “stranger” angel. His encounter was with a bird. The sound of the bird spoke in his language about the Father and the Son as the Source of all intelligence. It was through his encounter with this ‘stranger angel’ bird as a little boy that he came to learn the Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. Click on this LINK to go to the video to learn more about Mannilaq.

Mannilaq prophesied that many people would come to Ambler because something of great value would be found in the land. I can believe it. Tommy told me before he died that Ambler is sitting on the richest deposits of gold in the whole state of Alaska, possibly the world. Rumors say that diamonds are also found there. The largest deposit of jade in the world is nine miles away from the mouth of the river. The area is also known statewide as the Ambler mining district.

Ambler will be known in the Northwest Territories of Alaska as a place where the Gospel is established and brings great light to the region as well as prosperity to the land. I decree and declare it. Mannilaq, a true prophet over Alaska, said people of every tongue, tribe and nation would converge on this place! Mannilaq had a revelation of foreigners! Foreigners who would come and no longer be strangers in the land.The Word Mannilaq declared also included a whale that would come up from the depths of the mouth of the Ambler River known as Ivisaappaamuit signifying the eminent return of the Lord Jesus Christ as Conquering King. As recent as last year a beluga whale was spotted at the mouth of the Ambler River. Could this be the prophecy fulfilled? At the very least this is prophetic of the land and its resources. I have heard it prophesied throughout the State of Alaska the significance of the whale that represents the unifying of communities through great provision. The whale that is harvested from the depths of the waters denotes the feeding on the revelations of the deeper things of God and the knowledge of His Glory and Grace. Muk Tuk manna I like to call it. Like the Inupiat, Inupiaq and the Yupik Eskimo’s of this great land who crave the whale, we crave for the deeper revelations of His Word! Fresh manna from Heaven that proceeds from the mouth of the Father! Our daily Bread.

God has promised that we would no longer remain strangers or foreigners in the land He has given us to possess. He is watching over His plan to perform it. He is not slack concerning His promises. And it is He who is working within us to will to do His good pleasure!

Are we any more special than the next guy when we fulfill that for which the “stranger angel” was sent? Probably not. It really is all His doing isn’t it? I mean it doesn’t get any better than what we already have in Christ does it? We already have all the favor that sons loved by the Father of all Creation could ever have! It’s good to stay humble. Its good not to let these things go to our head. Sure, mixing it up with a “stranger angel” is something not everyone can say they have done. But to God be the Glory! We know that there is nothing in and of ourselves that we can do to curry God’s favor any more than we already have. Fortunately for us, perfection is not a prerequisite. Remaining in Christ allows the Lord to position you within His order and arrangement as you navigate the steep mountains of adversity and pain that lead to His goodness. His Grace is sufficient for us all! His goodness and favor are with you along the path. He wants us to know that.He knows us. He knows we are but dust. A perfect loving God who chooses to move through imperfect broken vessels who are incapable of doing anything of significance apart from His anointing to do so. Sure, we have abilities, strengths and talents. But nothing done apart from the direction and empowering of the Holy Spirit holds any eternal consequence unless He has orchestrated it and taken up the Shepherding role within it. We must be led. Without His leading we will fail miserably.Without His super invading our natural it will not produce results that have any eternal implications in His Kingdom worth mentioning. His ‘super’ sometimes requires that the “stranger angel” would enter into our ‘natural’ for His plan to unfold. So, He sent a “stranger angel” to remove my “stranger” status from the land he had given me in the North. Just as the Lord brought Abraham out from the land of Ur in Mesopotamia eventually on through to the land of promise called Canaan where the Lord made this covenant with this patriarch of faith. He sent Melchizedek the King of Salem, to minister to Abraham so that he would no longer be a stranger in a foreign land. Abraham’s “stranger angel” was the Lord Jesus Christ Himself.

“On that day the Lord made a covenant with Abram, saying, ‘To your descendants I have given this land, from the river of Egypt as far as the great river, the river Euphrates,’”  (Genesis 15:18)

The purpose of the “stranger angel” is still the same. To install generations of faith who are the seed of Abraham in the land He has given them. His Kingdom come and His Will be done here on earth through the images of God made righteous through faith. Angels who are simply messengers sent by Heavens decree to reestablish generations of sons who are no longer strangers in the land.

His purpose and plans have never been about the angel, the ‘stranger’, or the part they play. The divine intention has always been about the One who sends the angels and delegates citizenship to those who choose to believe. The land has always been about the Kingdom of God which is Righteousness, Peace and Joy in the Holy Spirit produced by the spoken Word. It is about the knowledge that He is a Covenant keeping God. It is about the King and His Dominion. It has always been about faith, hope and love established through His Truth. It is about Our Lord Jesus who is the First Born of many sons and the Baptizer of the Holy Spirit! It is about relationship restored through the gift called faith.

Ask the Lord to take you back through time to show you where you have been blessed at a critical time in your life with the “stranger angel.” Truly we can believe “He is Making a Way” where there seems to be no way because He loves us all and has called us His sons!