How Does Lightning Form

Will Washington Reach Debt Ceiling Deal?

BRET BAIER, HOST:  Before the break, we asked you will a debt ceiling deal be reached before August 2? And 73 percent of you said no, 27 percent said yes in our unscientific poll on our homepage. You see by our voting there, this was what was chosen for the Friday lightning round. Debt ceiling was what won this week. We're back with the panel. Steve, deal, no deal? Where are we? What is the status?

STEVEN HAYES, SENIOR WRITER, THE WEEKLY STANDARD:  I am increasingly skeptical. You heard Chuck Schumer last night, who is by all accounts a leader of the Democratic Party. Certainly a leader of the Democrats in the Senate, say that Medicare and Medicaid were off the table. So if drivers of our debt, the two things that are probably doing more along with Social Security than anybody else to create the $14.3 trillion debt we face and the long-term problems are of the table. You just can't have a negotiation if that is the case.

BAIER:  Democrats, Rick, would say the opposite, you can't have the negotiation if taxes are off the table.

RICK KLEIN, ABC NEWS:  That is right. We have seen both sides grow further apart in the last couple of months. It's not like we have outline of consensus here. The likeliest scenario is a short-term deal, between the yes or the no we won't get to August 2 without a debt limit increase but it won't be as big as the one they're talking about. The idea of a $2 trillion grand bargain where the taxes are part of it, Medicare is part of it, entitlements and all of that, I don't see it happening. I don't think either side sees political incentive. But no one sees the political incentive in us defaulting on our debt either.

BAIER:  See, that is the question. As more days go by, it seems like more and more people up on Capitol Hill say wait, we're never going to default. We talk about it here. You can pay the bills, make priorities. It seems that is gaining momentum on Capitol Hill?

CHARLES KRAUTHAMMER, SYNDICATED COLUMNIST:  It is. But there are choices in the priorities and the choices will be in the hands of the president is what scares Republicans. Obama exploited that. If you heard the press conference where he mentioned several times about how you've got to choose corporate jets and critical research. Meet inspections, if you withhold that you shut down the farm stake, which will scare a lot of Republicans.

What Do Angels Look Like? A Biblical Analysis

Angels are not composed of physical matter but are spirit beings created by God (Heb. 1:14).  They can resemble human form when God permits or wills it (Gen. 19).  There are different orders or ranks of angels in heaven .  Those that covered the throne in heaven were mighty seraphim angels.  They had six wings that hovered over the throne of God.  Their height must have been close to 15 to 18 feet tall.  Two of the seraphim’s wings covered their faces because God is so holy that even the seraphim angels could not look upon God (Isaiah 6:2).  Another set of wings covered their feet for they were in the midst of holy ground where God abided and Moses (Exodus 3:5) and Joshua (Joshua 5:15) had to remove their shoes while in the presence of God.  Angels do have some human features like feet, voices, and faces (Isaiah 6:1-2).

Daniel 10:5-6 gives a vivid description of an angel that he saw: “I looked up and there before me was a man dressed in linen, with a belt of fine gold from Uphaz around his waist. His body was like topaz, his face like lightning, his eyes like flaming torches, his arms and legs like the gleam of burnished bronze, and his voice like the sound of a multitude.” So Daniel describes an angel with a face like a lightning bolt, eyes like flaming torches of fire, arms and legs that gleam like polished chrome, and a voice like that of thunder.  It is no wonder that those men who were keepers of Jesus’ tomb severely shook and fell down like dead men in terror at the sight of the angel present there because “His appearance was like lightning, and his clothes were white as snow” (Matt. 28:4). 

Angels are neither male nor female although they always appear as a man when they take human form. They are nonetheless too powerful for humans to resist as a mighty cherubim kept Adam and Even from entering back into the Garden of Eden because he also had a mighty, flaming sword (Gen. 3:24).  Daniel, in his vision, saw that the number of angels could not be counted saying, “Thousands upon thousands attended him; ten thousand times ten thousand stood before him…“(Dan 7:10).  

Nowhere in the Bible are angels described like the pictures, paintings, or figurines of little baby cherub angels with wings that we so often see.  Michael and Gabriel are archangels and they are anything but little and cute.  They are powerful agents and messengers of God that are formidable in their own right.  Angels are not effeminate looking and resembling beautiful women with wings.  These are man made concoctions and do not come from the Bible.  Even Satan, a fallen angel and a powerful one at that, stands some 18 feet tall, and he does not have horns and a pitchfork.  He was perhaps the most beautiful and splendid angel ever created by God and of the highest order, but his pride caused his downfall and God caste him from heaven (Ezekiel chapter 14 and 28).

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