Blondes with wings

As a kid I used to have a picture hanging over my bed, of an angel protecting some children who were walking over a rather unsafe-looking bridge. It might actually have been this very picture:

How do I know it was an angel, you ask? Well it was a blonde woman with wings. That's how you tell. Kind of like Jesus is a long haired white man with a beard, a halo and a lamb hanging around his neck. (Don't tell the PETA, they get uptight about stuff like that)

Most of us are so influenced by silly pictures like this that we wouldn't recognize an angel if they saw one. Here's some facts on angels from the Bible:

• They are always described as men. Never women. (f.ex. Luk 24:4)
• Never ever is an angel described as having wings (Other celestial beings, such as cherubims however do have wings) (f.ex. Gen 3:24)
• They look so similar to humans that they aren't even recognized as angels at first.
• Angel means messenger. Their role is to bring messages to mankind (Gen 19:1, Num 22:35), and perform God's work (Acts 5:17-20) often including killing people. That's right. We often see God sending angels to kill people (2.Sam 24:15-17, 2.King 19:35, Acts 12:23). Bet you've never seen that cross-stitched on anyones wall.

Yeah, so I'm sorry for completely ruining your childhood illusions of winged blondes hovering over little children (although Mat 18:10 does lend some credibility to the idea of guardian angels). Let me finish with this cartoon I made ages ago, pondering what would happen if mice had similar ideas.