The Halo - What Is It

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Not too long ago I lost a pet cat to a passing vehicle. I was devastated by his death. He did not "belong" to me, but he was a friend. You see, he was a wild cat, born free, and loved his freedom. We made friends, and we loved and understood each other. His name was Desi. It was because of his death that my attention was brought back to thoughts I had some 35 years ago, when I began my Christian life.

My son knew of my great love for this old wild cat, so when the cat died my son bought me a small figurine of a cat (same color) having wings and a halo. This figurine sat on top of my computer desk this very moment. His little hands clasped across his belly. But I kept noticing the "halo"over his head. It's a golden halo, of course. Does that have a meaning? I believe it does.

Let me preface this story with my knowledge of halos. I have virtually "none". I am writing this solely on my own observations and experiences. I have not researched it in the scriptures. I have discuses it with no one. I have not searched the Internet. I was not taught anything about it in any sermon nor any Sunday school class. These are my own thoughts, completely uninfluenced by any other human or any other source what-so-ever, and they are not some revelation from God!

I have owned two very old Bibles - well over a hundred years old. One especially, has many old photographs or some type of graphic depictions or art work. In these, and many others I have seen during my life of sixty years, there is a halo above or surrounding the head of Christ and other Biblical figures. We have all heard of a halo, and seen representations of them. We see them in children's plays, and in older Biblical paintings. But, the key word here is "older". We do know that there were no artists at the time of Christ who painting His image. It was only two or three hundred years later than His image began appearing on paintings. If I remember correctly, one famous painter was the first to attempt to depict an image of Jesus. But, most (if not all) had something in common, common enough to be given a name - a name we are all familiar with - the "halo".

Nowadays we seem to just take the halo for granted, without asking about it, or even pondering what it means - if anything. Perhaps just the way those early artists wished to highlight an image of Christ to demonstrate that He was special. We see the halo on paintings of angels, and other persons of a deity connection. But, why?

My observations of halos went beyond paintings in the winter of 1965. I was engaged to a young lady. She was absolutely beautiful and I was anxious to marry her. Since she was a very strong Christian, a problem developed which prevented our marriage. It had to do with my being divorced.

We made arrangements to talk to a pastor. For him it was easy. "No", This was not what I wanted to hear. He did show us passages of scripture and I argued bitterly. But to no avail. He explained everything clearly to us.

As a result, I began attending this church. Mainly because he was beginning to open my eyes to scripture. Sure, I had glanced in the Bible a few times. I even owned one. But, I had never actually read it to find out what it said. Suffice to say, I became very active in this church. The church just happened to be an Assembly of God. It was some time before I heard anyone speak in tongue, and I was quite shocked. I had not yet read, nor heard, anything about "speaking in tongue". I didn't even know what in the world it was.

The pastor, and many of the members of the church, began explaining the gifts of the Spirit to me. Quoting from scripture, and showing me. I was quite hesitant about believing this, but the people there were friendly, warm, and sincere. They were not weirdos in any way. Just normal working folks of all ages. I was just beginning to understand what Paul was telling us about. It was not something strange and bazaar, but just simply a gift from God to those who would accept it and to whom God chose to give to. Being a gift, it was not something required - just a gift.

I had been relatively close to some who were speaking in tongue, but it was hard to hear them. They were very silently speaking to God, just between them and God. Like a very quiet prayer. There were a few times when someone in the congregation would speak in tongue loudly. On these occasions someone else would give what I later learned to be an interpretation. The interpretation would NEVER be anything contrary to scripture, and usually some exact passage right from the Bible. Obviously something God wanted to bring back to the attention of the congregation. Nothing new; just a reminder, and perhaps a timely one.

Things changed dramatically though when I, and the young lady I had been engaged to, were at the alter after services one evening. For the first time, she began speaking in tongues. Being stunned, I looked at her. We were almost shoulder to shoulder. She then looked directly at me and continued speaking in the most beautiful language I had ever heard. Yes indeed, the hair stood up on the back of my neck. This was getting close.

Along with speaking in tongue, there was something else I could not help but notice; she glowed! Well, not like a light bulb. Not like a blush either. It's very difficult to explain because it seems we don't have an English word to describe it - to my knowledge. Imagine if you can, a winter day, and how us Caucasians can have very light and kind of pale complexion at this time. But her face sort of radiated - glowed, when only moments before it was normal. Her glow was something like you might expect being on a beach in Honolulu with a nice tan. A golden tan! This explanation is as close as I can get, but it is not precise. Perhaps somewhere between a real radiated glow and a really great looking tan?

I did ask someone in the church about it. They simply said, "Oh, that happens often". I didn't pursue further information about the phenomena. I did notice it many times, on many people, for many years afterward. It seems to accompany speaking in tongue quite frequently. I finally just accepted it as something which often happens when someone is deeply filled with the Spirit.

What does this have to do with a halo? I believe it "IS" the halo that those artists were depicting in their paintings. Well, if they had not attempted to paint Christ until long after his death, and that no artist had ever seen Christ in person, how did they know to put a "halo" on their subject? Why would they have done that?

Being a scientific investigator for 26 years, and another 8 years of forensic consulting, I am somewhat familiar with how to analyze evidence. There is just overwhelming evidence that there is a connection between the halo seen in the ancient paintings, and with the phenomena of being filled with the Spirit - or speaking in tongues and other Spiritual or supernatural events. Far to much to be a mere coincidence.

It has to be that those early artists/painters had actually seen someone, some religious person, with this same "glow". There really is no other possible explanation. But, if those artists had actually seen someone "glowing" in the Spirit [my phrase] two or three hundred years after Christ, then the argument that those gifts had ceased after the apostles died simply cannot be true. The gifts existed then, and they exist now, and apparently they existed always, ever since the times of the New Testament - perhaps even before.

Then simply, the "halo" we have all know of, but not known about, is a glowing or radiance of God in action. This then is my conclusion, based entirely on my own observations and experiences.

If anyone reading this has other knowledge or experience with the "halo" please e-mail me at gregandsheila@usinternet.com