Angels: Agents of Light, Love, and Power

by Donald W. Parry

Angels: Agents of Light, Love, and Power is the most thorough book on this vital—but often misunderstood—topic. Brother Parry, who has spoken about angels at BYU Education Week, has painstakingly researched what we can learn from the scriptures and from statements of modern prophets about angels and their missions. Chapters in this book focus on such topics as what angels are, what powers and abilities they are given, how they communicate with mortals (including their interaction with little children), what missions and roles they are assigned, how they restore priesthood and keys, how they reveal truth and teach the doctrines of the gospel, and what their roles will be in the Second Coming and during the Judgment. It includes a discussion of how angels minister to and comfort mortals, and about the role of guardian angels.

Genres: Religion, Lds, Nonfiction, Church, Spirituality, Lds Non Fiction, Inspirational

272 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2013

About the author

Donald W. Parry, Professor of Hebrew Bible and Dead Sea Scrolls at Brigham Young University, is married to Camille Mills, from Las Vegas, Nevada; they have six children. He has served as a member of the International Team of Translators of the Dead Sea Scrolls since 1994. He has authored or edited thirty-three books, ten of which pertain to the scrolls and five deal with the writings of Isaiah. Parry has also published articles in journals, festschrifts, conference proceedings, and encyclopedias. He is also a member of several other professional organizations, including the International Organization for the Study of the Old Testament, Groningen, The Netherlands, Society for Biblical Literature, Atlanta, Georgia, and the National Association of Professors of Hebrew, Madison, Wisconsin. Parry presently serves as a member of the Dead Sea Scrolls Foundation Board of Trustees.

Reviews

[LMoody · Rating 4 out of 5]

I have always loved the topic of angels and was excited to run across this title! I have had personal experiences with angels and really enjoyed this book! Donald Parry shares stories from the scriptures, prophets, and apostles to open our minds to the role and mission of angels as they minister to us and bring us knowledge, light, power, comfort and peace. I love the thought that we are never alone and we can draw strength from ancestor angels who love us dearly. As
Russell M. Nelson said: “Remember, God’s holy angels are ever on call to help us. When we are faithful, God and His angels will help us.”

[Jeanne Young · Rating 4 out of 5]

I am not sure I would have ever picked this to read were it not for a book group that chose this. The author catalogs and explains what is known and believed about the LDS concepts of angels. He does not deviate from presenting straight facts. There is no speculation or sensationalism. After reading, my overarching thought is that God loves his children and provides heavenly messengers, protectors and warriors for them.

[Marcy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Learned a lot. Much of it I hadn't even thought of before, but will now.

[Michelle · Rating 4 out of 5]

I listened to the audio of the book. It is one I will buy and mark all the excellent quotes. Well researched and enlightening!

[Erika B. (SOS BOOKS) · Rating 4 out of 5]

"I testify of angels, both the heavenly and the mortal kind. In doing so I am testifying that God never leaves us alone, never leaves us unaided in the challenges that we face. On occasions, global and personal, we may feel we are distanced from God, shut out from heaven, lost, alone in dark and dreary places. Often enough that distress can be of our own making, but even then the Father of us all is watching and assisting. And always there are those angels who come and go all around us, seen and unseen, known and unknown, mortal and immortal." -Jeffrey R. Holland

SO....this book was FASCINATING! I will forever think of it as the "Angel Bible" because it is so thoroughly researched on the subject of angels. Bless Donald W. Parry's heart! He must be exhausted! Some of it was a little bit over my head when it comes to Revalations and the Second Coming of Christ but it was a good learning experience! There was things about angels in here that I have never even thought or heard about so that was fun for me to read. I think that I have a weird fascination with the topic of angels. I like to think that there is help for people in this world that is divine. Kindness and divinity are a bit underrated these days! :) This book is broken down into topics such as: Angels and little children, Angels may administer love, comfort, or peace, Angels conduct divine work, and much more! We have angels in our lives that are unseen but also seen. I have many angels in my life that I dearly love! :)

"That is the God whom I serve, one who has millions of angels at His command. Do you suppose that there are any angels here to-day? I would not wonder if there were ten times more angels here than people. We do not see them, but they are here watching us, and are anxious for our salvation. God's angels are our associates, they are with us and around about us, and watch over us, and take care of us, and lead us, and guide us, and administer to our wants." -President Heber C. Kimball

"Because of God's great love, He has set heavenly beings to watch over us and to guard us from the attacks of evil powers while we live on earth. Do we realize that in our daily walk and work we are not alone, but that angels attend us wherever our duty causes us to go?" -James E. Talmage

[Heather · Rating 5 out of 5]

I started reading Angels on the way home from a long road trip and was so enthralled I began to read it aloud to my husband. Never before have I been enlightened by such a collection of brand new truths. Angels is by far the most interesting non-fiction book I've picked up in a very long time.

I've always believed in angels and have felt the presence of those I love who have gone before and others whom I've never met close by during important times of my life. I have felt sustained, lifted, loved mourned with, comforted and encircled. To know more about who these angels are, from whence they come and what powers they possess is incredible.

Brother Parry has well researched and cited many stories from the scriptures and apostles lives that illustrate how angels are working miracles in our day and time. He teaches the types, ranks, and superhuman traits of angels. He shows us how living divine like mortals can be angels in our every day lives. Parry's writing is clear, deep and touching.

I would buy Angels for myself and as a gift for all I know. And, I really hope an audio version is released soon so I can listen to it again and again to drink in all I learned. It is just absolutely packed with new doctrine.

Thanks so much to Deseret Book for inviting us to be on the tour!

[Tanya · Rating 4 out of 5]

I very much enjoyed this comprehensive compilation of the doctrine on angels. The majority of the book will be filled with things most LDS members will recognize, but having it in one place for reference is wonderful. I enjoy how Brother Parry uses scriptural evidence with support from other doctrine to support the lessons taught. I think my favorite was at the end of the book, that we as members of the church need to testify more of the ministering of angels and how it has effected our lives. Even if we have not seen them as most of us will not, we have benefited from their visits by the blessings we partake of in our life.

[Erin · Rating 3 out of 5]

If you are interested in an LDS view on angels, this book has it all. The author documents and sites hundreds? of examples which offers the reader basically any angle on an angel. However, the author does document and site hundreds? of examples which offered me up naps any time I tried to read. I think this could be a good book for a religious book club to take a chunk at a time...hint, hint, Anita. Some good stuff in here, I just ended up not being as interested as I thought.

[Kim Rasband · Rating 4 out of 5]

I am fascinated by the reality of angels. I loved this book - which I read a piece at a time over several months. Great food for thought and a very careful treatment of the LDS view of doctrines concerning Angels. Glad I read it.

[Rod Hyatt · Rating 5 out of 5]

This points out what I have read before many times but narates it to full color.

[Ellen · Rating 3 out of 5]

This one is tough for me to rate. The information was incredibly useful and helped me learn more about what angels are according to scriptural references and church history, so I guess on that front, I'd give it five stars. However, the format, flow, and readability were very difficult for me, and on that front, I'd give it two stars.

I've been working on this book for months. Although I wanted to learn the information in the book, I wasn't eager to get back into the book. Due to the format, there is a lot of repeated information. It's almost like it's more of a reference book and not meant to be read from cover to cover. Had I looked at it that way, I guess I should have gone through the table of contents and read the chapters that interested me. Or even read the beginning paragraphs in each chapter and then skipped the following details that included scripture and historical quotes. Often, those same quotes were used in multiple chapters. The author knows his stuff and has done his research, but I think this could use some work to make it a more enjoyable reading experience for us laypeople.

[Jodi · Rating 3 out of 5]

Parts of this book were so wonderful and other parts I found myself skimming. I loved the principles taught about how angels can surround us to bless, protect, and comfort us. I also really enjoyed the stories and principles taught about deceased loved ones appearing to mortals. I have a strong testimony that angels are all around us even though we are usually unaware of them and this book strengthened that even more. There were other parts of this book, however, that didn't interest me as much and I skimmed through. There are a LOT of scriptural passages shared demonstrating what roles angels had in biblical times. A few were interesting, but I felt like there were pages and pages of long scriptural passages that eventually lost my attention. But overall, this book has really short chapters categorized by topic, so it would be easy to pick and choose which chapters to read based on your interests.

[Doris · Rating 2 out of 5]

I learned some interesting things. Most of the info wasn't new, it was just put together in one place--not a negative thing, just saying that most of it wasn't revelatory to me. I did think about angels helping me personally in a new way and feel like my mind is more open to and aware of the possibility of angels (especially deceased family members) helping me in ways I may be unaware of. It was worth a read, but I also dislike having the same information repeated in different chapters. I understand that different chapters deal with slightly different subjects. The same information was quoted in several different chapters. I understand that the same quotation can apply to more than one subject, but the repetition was too much and that made it feel poorly edited to me.

[Brittany · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book took me forever to read. I got this book because I'm interested in the topic of angels. I learned some interesting new things about angels but the book was pretty dry at times. The author repeated the same ideas, information, quotes and scriptures a lot throughout the book. I also found some typos as I was reading.

I feel like I could have looked up all this information about angels myself from scriptures and from doing a search on lds.org. This book is not worth $25.99. I feel like this book could have been edited and condensed down to a small paperback book for a more affordable price.

[Heather · Rating 4 out of 5]

Loads of information on angels in this book! This is the first book that I’ve listened to through the Deseret Bookshelf that wasn’t read by the author. It’s also the first book that I’ve listened to on that app that didn’t have terrible audio, especially when I had it at 2x speed.
The book in my opinion read like a text book. If you have a chance to attend any lectures or a series of lectures by Donald Parry on this subject I highly recommend it, even though much of the same information is given in his lectures the presentation is so much better!

[Lisa · Rating 3 out of 5]

It wasn't what I was expecting - a bunch of stories about how angels have helped people. Instead, it was scripture based descriptions of angels - what they do, what their role it, who they are, etc. - which was probably much better for me to read. And it talked about how they helped people but as personal experiences of credible sources. Overall, I enjoyed it.

[Natalie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Angels: Agents of Light, Love and Power is a non-fiction book about angels published by Deseret Book. The author quotes scriptures and prophets and sticks to facts, not speculations. I would have liked more personal input from the author throughout the book, but I really only felt it during the Conclusion. I really like the Appendix that lists all of the founding fathers and other eminent men and women that President Wilford Woodruff refers to.

[Jodi Escalante · Rating 5 out of 5]

I alternated reading/listening to this book off and on for over 6 months. I loved the stories and testimonies that angels exist now as they did historically. The material felt a little redundant at times and I felt the chapters near the end where he spends lots of time analyzing the references in the book of Revelations felt long. Mostly bc we don’t know when Revelations is talking figuratively or literally. Overall, I loved all the documented sources.

[Donna · Rating 5 out of 5]

A scholarly, enlightening treatise on angels as recorded in scripture. This looks at the roles angels have played in spreading "good tidings of great joy" and in destroying the first born of the Egyptians. It helped me recognize that my life has been touched by angels I couldn't see.

An eye-opener.

[Kim Dennis · Rating 3 out of 5]

It was okay, but I was somewhat disappointed. There were a couple of stories in here that I hadn't heard, but most of the book was just synthesizing everything in the scriptures and History of the Church into a single source. There wasn't really anything new in the book. I was glad I had listened to this on Bookshelf Plus and that I hadn't bought the book.

[Lauren · Rating 4 out of 5]

We read this for book club. It was a fabulous book to discuss but a slightly difficult book to read. It reads a bit like a text book which one should consult to better understand one’s own encounters with angels.

Overall, the book filled me with peace and hope. I firmly believe that God is master of the earth and his plan will prevail.

[Steph · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book is fine, but is mostly a collection of lots of different sources talking about angels, rather than any new information. I also hoped that the book would talk about how we have men and women living among us who act as “angels” in their own way by helping and supporting us. It did not even touch on that concept, though.

[Ginger Poulsen · Rating 3 out of 5]

It was informational, but not as good as I expected. Probably because it's a summary of ALL the roles of angels and what I wanted was a book that would confirm to me somehow that there are angels around me, helping me every day.

[C · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting and insightful. The subject is well covered and delves into some deeper church history and scriptural passages but it has less to say than I had hoped. It’s mostly just a good resource and index for scriptural verses and descriptions of angelic intercession.

[Luke Tielemans · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good book. Most of it was just the roles and responsibilities of angels. Was hoping it gave more insight on recent examples of people who have had angels minister to them and possibly how someone can gain access to this gift. Still a good read.

[Elizabeth Ricks · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a good resource. He has taken all of the references to angels in the standards works and put them in categories, which he then explains. I don't think I learned anything new, but it was definitely beneficial to have the information presented in this form.

[Shellie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good enough. Interesting. Fairly comprehensive.
My opinion is that it was written for the beginner by an advanced student but it never felt like he was dumbing it down for the beginner. There’s a lot of good stuff in here.

[Deseret Book · Rating 5 out of 5]

"This is the best explanation about Angels I have ever read. My heart is full and my mind has been open. It's a great read that adds to our testimony of this great plan. I recommended it to my close friends and family." --Customer Review

[Ruth · Rating 4 out of 5]

very good, always like to see books like this with lots of quotes from scripture and General Authorities

[Elaine · Rating 4 out of 5]

The best thing about this book is the comprehensive collection of ideas from scripture and other sources brought together to bring greater understanding to who angels are and what their roles are.