I, John, am the one who heard and saw these things. And when I had heard and seen them, I fell down to worship at the feet of the angel who had been showing them to me. But he said to me, "Do not do it! I am a fellow servant with you and with your brothers the prophets and of all who keep the words of this book.Worship God!" - Revelation 22:8-9

Is it ok to pray to Saints or Angels?

Bible passages that prohibit praying to angels and saints in addition to one of the commandments. But also very powerful are the Bible accounts of what God has done when His Glory was stolen.

The first and second commandment of God:

And God spoke all these words: “I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery.“You shall have no other gods before me.

“You shall not make for yourself an image in the form of anything in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the waters below. You shall not bow down to them or worship them; for I, the LORD your God, am a jealous God, punishing the children for the sin of the parents to the third and fourth generation of those who hate me, but showing love to a thousand generations of those who love me and keep my commandments. Exodus 20:2-6

So the commandments prohibit worshiping anything on the earth and anything in Heaven. We are to only worship and pray to God.

The New Testament has the following Bible Passages prohibiting this practice:

“Do not let anyone who delights in false humility and the worship of angels disqualify you from the prize. Such a person goes into great detail about what he has seen, and his unspiritual mind puffs him up with idle notions. He has lost connection with the Head”. Colossians 2:18-19

Here the Bible is saying that the worship of (Praying to) angels would result in disqualifying you from the prize (your salvation) and that such a person has lost their connection with the Head (God). The consequences of praying to idols is very severe.

The apostle John in the book of Revelation, fell down at the feet of an angel. Read the account of how the angel responded: “I, John am the one who heard and saw these things. And when I had heard and seen them, I fell down to worship at the feet of the angel who had been showing them to me. But he said to me, “Do not do it! I am a fellow servant with you and with your fellow prophets and with all who keep the words of this book. Worship God!” Revelation 22:8-9

In this case, an angel confirmed the commandment of God. “Don’t do it!” said the angel, “Worship God!”

There is a story in the Bible about King Herod that confirms this Biblical principal and command. King Herod was the King that wanted to Kill Jesus. When Jesus was an infant, King Herod had plans to Kill Jesus, does God take care of King Herod at this point? No, instead he instructs Joseph and Mary to leave and take Jesus to Egypt. Then when it is safe Jesus returns to Israel. All this effort when God could simply remove King Herod from the scene. But he doesn’t, at least not at that time. There is something that causes God to take out King Herod. Read this passage:

“On the appointed day Herod, wearing his royal robes, sat on his throne and delivered a public address to the people. They shouted, “This is the voice of a god, not of a man.” Immediately, because Herod did not give praise to God, an angel of the Lord struck him down, and he was eaten by worms and died.” Acts 12:21-23

God allowed King Herod to live even when he had plans to kill God’s son Jesus, but when he stole the Glory from God, he was taken out of the picture. But this was someone that was against God, so perhaps there were other reasons why he was dealt with so severely? The Bible passage clearly states – “Because Herod did not give praise to God…”.

There is another account where one of God’s chosen servants made an error and God provided a consequence for the situation. Moses, God’s chosen servant to lead the people out of Egypt and into the promised land made a mistake. Even though God approved of and loved Moses he would not let Moses escape the consequence of what seems to be a slip of the tongue. In the desert, God commanded Moses to strike the rock in order to bring forth water for the Jews to drink. Moses stole God’s Glory in front of all Israel and struck the rock saying “Listen, you rebels, must we bring you water out of this rock?” Num 20:10. *

Notice the word we. God was the One who would bring the water out of the rock. Moses took God’s Glory, and God refused to take away the consequences of that disobedience. He refused to allow Moses to go with Israel into the promised land.

Whether it is an enemy of God or a chosen servant of God he will not allow his Glory to be stolen or shared.

Lastly, the saints and Mary are not omniscient and omnipresent. They can’t hear thousands of prayers, in many different languages from all over the world all at the same time. Only God is omniscient and omnipresent and can be in all places to hear prayers from everyone at the same time and have the authority, wisdom and power to respond and act in your life.

Why not go to Him in the first place?

* From the book: Experiencing God by Henry & Richard Blackaby and Claude King.