The Book, Angels on Assignment
(Chapter 19, Pages 128 - 135)

One Monday morning my father walked into my office. This was not unusual because, although he was very busy, he would often take a few minutes out of his busy schedule, and he and Queenie would stroll down the hall to my office for a little chat.

 

That particular morning he threw me a bombshell. We were quietly discussing the services the day before, when in the same ordinary tone of voice daddy asked me a very extraordinary question. He said, "Honey, what would you say if I told you that I had a visit from an angel last Saturday night?" I said, "What?" He repeated, "I had a visit from an angel last Saturday night!" "Wow!" was my response! He asked, "Do you believe me?" I told him, "Of course I do!"

 

He then began to describe this incredible encounter. I literally hung on every word. I asked when he was going to share this visit with the congregation. He said he didn't know, and wondered if people would believe him. I told him, "Of course they will!" He then dropped another bombshell, as he said softly, "He was the angel Gabriel!"

 

My mouth really fell open then. Tears began to stream down his cheeks as he continued sharing with me the message the angel had brought from God. Tears filled my eyes too, as I listened to what my father was saying. He was a man who would never try to be flamboyant or lean toward the sensational just to reach people. He had steered a steady, middle-of-the-road course for many years, not following the different fads that would come and go as men were seeking their way in the new charismatic outpourings from God.

 

The supernatural work of God thru my dad's life didn't begin with the angelic visitations. All thru his ministry God would, at different times, let him know areas of need in people's lives as he would shake their hands following a church service. Or God would reveal someone to him as they were involved in something they wouldn't want anyone to know about. Daddy would either immediately go to that person, or tell them later, as God would direct. There were a lot of people who learned how much God cared about what they did or did not do, as He would reveal these things to Dad. God could trust dad with any information, because unless God released it in his spirit, no one else ever knew the secrets God had shown him other than the person involved. He always said that he felt the word of knowledge can be a dangerous thing in the hands of a careless person.

 

I remember when one of my good buddies was dating one of the girls in our youth group. They became engaged, and as the date for their marriage approached, dad wondered why the young man was avoiding him. One day I asked my buddy why he was avoiding dad. He said, "Well, sometimes my fiancee and I get kind of involved on Saturday night, and I know that God knows, but I just don't want God to tell Pastor Buck!"

 

Dad's first "out of body" experience was a visit to God's throne room. One Saturday night in January, 1977, about ten-thirty in the evening, daddy was seated at his desk meditating and praying and preparing his heart for Sunday. His head was resting in his arms on the desk, when suddenly without any warning he was taken right out of the room, and he heard a voice say, "Come with me into the throne room where the secrets of the universe are kept!" Immediately he was in God's throne room. While he was there he learned many things from God himself. In fact, God gave him a paper that had a list of 120 things that would occur in the two years that were to follow. On that list were things that related to his ministry, names of people, places and also events relating to world happenings. This visit to the throne room is described in detail in daddy's book. As he was coming back from this visit and as he entered the room, he saw himself from behind, and saw his body with his head down on his desk. He told the Lord, "I didn't realize I was that white!" He hadn't seen the back of his head that much, and he didn't realize before how white his hair was becoming. When he sat up, he found the paper from heaven still in his hand. As he shared with me, I can't really express the feeling in my heart of awe and wonder. He told me that he laid the paper on his desk. When he went home he was white as a sheet. When my mother asked him what was wrong, he could not tell her at first.

 

The next morning when he went back to his office to look at the paper, all that was laying where it had been were very light fluffy ashes. He left them there all morning. His secretary, Jo Ann Marsden came in and saw the ashes but she didn't disturb them, although she wondered what they were.

 

Finally at the end of the day he scooped the ashes into an envelope not wanting to attach any special reverence to them other than that they were heavenly ashes. When I saw the ashes the next day it was very strange because they did not leave a sooty mark on the envelope. They finally evaporated completely leaving the envelope just like new.

 

Before his death, all 120 predictions had been fulfilled. About a year and a half after his throne room visit, he received the first message, thru angelic messenger, from the Father.

 

Altogether, he was privileged to experience 27 angelic visitations between June 18, 1978, and October 13, 1979. Eighteen of these are described in the book, Angels On Assignment. Portions of the nine visitations which occurred following the publishing of that book will be shared in the next few chapters.

 

Early one morning the Holy Spirit told my dad to write the following: (Webmaster's Note: In the audio sermons on this web site, I think it's significant that Pastor Buck claimed the Holy Spirit spoke the following words to him in an audible voice):

"Write, preserve the words which I have spoken to you. They shall become a light to many. I will not only minister thru you, but will accompany these words, and give them life wherever sent, even as I have already given wings to My messages brought to you by the angel of the Lord. Fear not to speak in His name, for the words I give are not your words, but His words, and are established forever. Are they not found in His eternal living Word? Long closed doors of many peoples and nations will be penetrated by these words of life. I command the hosts of the Lord who have been sent forth for this hour to hasten the gathering together unto Him a people for His Name, and to prepare them for that Great Day of the Lord. They will both precede and follow these words from the Father to make ready the people, to scatter forces of darkness, and to gently care for the multitudes who will hear."

Daddy had this promise from the Lord, so he never tried in any way to help God get the message out that He told him to share with the world. He simply preached the messages to his congregation and left the rest up to God.

 

"Tapes of the messages he preached to his congregation began to circulate all over the United States. Soon the tapes were being duplicated and sent all over the United States and Canada, and to many countries around the world. Requests came from people who were hungry to hear the messages straight from God's heart, as brought to my father by divine messenger.

 

The tapes finally reached Charles and Frances Hunter thru some friends and their hearts were thrilled and their spirits quickened by the tremendous messages they heard. God's plan for getting His message out was unfolding thru the obedience of the Hunters in responding to the urgency of this message.

 

Charles and Frances contacted daddy and their spirits witnessed genuineness as they spent time sharing with him.

 

These dedicated servants of God, worked day and night for the next few months to edit the messages from the tapes. The manuscripts flew back and forth between Houston and Boise, and finally on July 5, 1979, the book was completed, and ready for distribution in bookstores throughout the United States.

 

Daddy began to get calls from many places to speak. Following the leading of the Lord, he traveled extensively in the months that followed, sharing in large auditorium meetings, TV programs and in small fellowships.

 

People everywhere were finding Jesus. Hundreds of thousands found new hope thru the beautiful Bible truths illuminated by divine messenger, and shared thru the book and tapes.

 

Over and over daddy pointed people to Jesus. He told them that every message brought by angelic messenger exalted Jesus by reminding them what the sacrifice of Jesus meant to a lost world. Thru this sacrifice, men and women once again could be reconciled with the Father.

 

The enemy of our souls could not stand to see so many people finding Jesus, and he began to stir up controversy and even hate.

 

A sign on the front of the church with daddy's name on it was vandalized and torn down. He then received an anonymous phone call from a man who said, "If you don't stop preaching the messages from angels, I'm going to bash your head in, just like I did that sign!"

 

God suddenly showed dad what the man who was calling looked like as well as another man who had taken part and was listening to the call on another extension. God showed him the kind of truck they were driving when they damaged the sign, the license number, their address, even the clothes they had on at the time of the phone call. He called them both by name, and told them the information that God had showed him. Both men began to cry out to God over the phone, and daddy had the privilege of praying with them.

 

Another time he received a call from a woman who was near hysterical. Her husband had left the house with a gun, planning to shoot my father because of the tremendous change in the lives of his sons, who had accepted Jesus thru reading the book, Angels on Assignment. The man never arrived, and daddy just kept on preaching the love of Jesus.

 

In some cities where he was asked to speak, both Satan-worshipers and Christians planned to picket the meetings. However, God always worked it out so they failed! God had something He wanted to accomplish, and nothing and no one could stop it.

 

The Hunters also experienced some persecution, but they, too, had caught the vision of what God is doing these last days, and they marched forward with a God-given boldness to fulfill their part in bringing this message to the world.

 

Daddy was told by divine messenger to ignore the thrusts that were being made at him and at the message contained in the book. The angel referred him to Isaiah 45:9, "Let the potsherd strive with the potsherds of the earth." "Destruction is certain for those who argue with their Creator. Does a clay pot ever argue with its maker? Does the clay dispute with the one who shapes it, saying, 'Stop, you are doing it wrong!' Does the pot exclaim, 'How clumsy can you be!'" New Living Translation

 

The prophecy has come true with regard to the book, Angels on Assignment. It has been published in nine languages, and has gone into many countries around the world. At this writing (1982) over 550,000 have been sold since it came out in July, 1979.

 

The question is asked many times, "Why did God send angelic visitors to Pastor Buck?" His answer to that was, "I don't know why. I probably wouldn't have chosen me if I were God! But God did choose me, and I am simply obeying Him!"

 

The book by Charles and Frances Hunter, as told to them by my father contains the message that God wants the world to know. In a nutshell, though, the following is the message that was given.

 

There is good news for you and your family in these last days! God has sent out a host of angels to push, prod, and do whatever is necessary to bring people to a point of choice in accepting what He has done for them thru the sacrifice of Jesus. The angels aren't listening to any objections from the individual, and if they don't choose Jesus the first time, then the cycle will start all over again. Angelic forces are on the job.

 

If you don't know the Lord, and someone from your family is praying for you, you are highly favored of God. He has sent His angels to bring you to a point of choice, because God loves you so much!

 

The main focus of the messages brought by the angels over and over again is the sacrifice of Jesus. He bore the stroke of God's judgment in His own body. Because of this sacrifice, when men and women accept what He has done, they are restored to their original state of innocence in God's eyes. They are made just as though they had never sinned. They are not pardoned in God's eyes, because pardon means the records are still there, but they are justified which means made as though they have never sinned.

 

What does this mean to you? It means when you find Jesus, you are not an ex-alcoholic, or an ex-homosexual, or an ex-prostitute, but the blood of Jesus covers you, letting God see only the righteousness of Jesus when He looks at you. You are therefore restored to your original state of innocence, as clean and pure in the eyes of the Father as the day you were born. That's what atonement means to you.

 

Doesn't this make you want to accept the wonderful new life that God offers you thru the sacrifice of His Son Jesus? Why not do it right now? Jesus said "If you call upon My Name, you will be saved!" Just say, "Jesus, I accept what You have done for me, I believe in You, and I want to be your child from now on. Thank You for loving me so much!"

 

You are now born into the kingdom with a new heart, a new hope and a new life.

 

Another very important part of what God wants the world to know is that believers will not be at the White Throne Judgment. That judgment is only for those who reject Christ.

 

When God gathers all His believers around the throne, it will be to say "thanks" for all those things they did to help lift the load for someone. The encouraging word you gave, the plate of cookies you baked, 'just because'. Things that perhaps in the eyes of the world weren't anything really special, but thru God's eyes represented His love being beamed thru you to a world that is so hungry and cold and longing for that gentle touch. God will not turn His spotlight on your life at that time looking for the things you did wrong, because all of your sins and failures are covered thru the atonement of Jesus.

 

The summed it up this way, "The believers' judgment is not a dark night thru which he must pass before he breaks into God's eternal day, but a day in which God has chosen to thank His people!"

 

Next: 'Till Death Do Us Part