What is an Angel?
George
Q. Cannon
In the broadest
sense, any being who acts as a messenger for our Heavenly Father is an
angel, be he a God, a resurrected man or the spirit of a just man; the
term is so used in all these senses in the ancient scriptures. In the
stricter and more limited sense an angel is, as the Prophet Joseph
states, a resurrected personage, having a body of flesh and bones. But
it must be remembered that none of the angels who appeared to men
before the death of the Savior could be of that class for none of them
were resurrected. ...
We are taught to
believe that Adam was the first man who took a body on this earth.
There was no death before he fell. Who, then, was the angel who taught
him the law of sacrifice, or of faith and baptism, or who was the
cherubim with the flaming sword who guarded the tree of life? We cannot
admit that the scriptures are false and that these beings were not
angels; neither can we admit that Adam was not the first man and that
the Savior was not the first-fruits of the resurrection. Therefore, we
are forced to the conclusion that the word “angel” is used in the
scriptures for any heavenly being bearing God’s message or fulfilling
His commands; and, further, all beings who were created with the design
that they should inhabit this earth belong to it and to no other
planet. (Gospel Truth, 1:68)