EPHESIANS 2:1-2

Not to cast any aspersions on Billy Graham, but even he was the first to admit that his strength and calling was as an evangelist, not a Bible scholar. Late in life he said that one of his three greatest regrets was that he hadn't spent enough time in personal Bible study (His other regrets were spending too much time hanging around politicians and not enough time with his family). But he did write at least one book, Angels, on a specific area of theology. In it, he states that one of the functions of angels is to escort our souls up to heaven when we die to protect us while we are passing through earth's dangerous atmosphere where Satan and the demons live.

A variation on this belief has been around at least since the Middle Ages. Do you know where the idea comes from to say “God bless you” when a person sneezes? One version of the story is that it originated with the idea that one's soul momentarily leaves the body when you sneeze. So saying “God bless you” prevents the demons in the air from snatching it away before it can re-enter your body. Well, what biblical justification did Graham have for his statement? You can see it on the official Billy Graham Evangelistic Association website where three different passages are coupled together to reach that conclusion:

1. Hebrews 1:14: “Are not all angels spirits in the divine service, sent to serve for the sake of those who are to inherit salvation?”  

Therefore, it is reasoned that one of the ways in which angels serve us must be by protecting us from all danger, in life and afterward. A bit of a stretch, but a possibility.

2. Luke 16:22: “The poor man died and was carried away by the angels to be with Abraham.”  

This second passage comes from Jesus' parable about Lazarus and the Rich Man. The problem here is that the incidental details in a parable should never be taken as representative of truths in the real world or used to establish any doctrines.

3. Ephesians 2:1-2: “You were dead through the trespasses and sin in which you once lived following the course of this world, following the ruler of the power of the air...” 

This is presumed to show that Satan lives in the atmosphere and evidences his power the most strongly there. But this is the only passage I know of where that idea is mentioned, and elsewhere in the Bible Satan is more associated with his actions on the earth and in the underworld. 

Finally, as I mentioned in another post on Chains of Reasoning, coupling together multiple passages in this way, where each interpretive step must be correct, always lowers the probability that our final conclusion will be correct.