Supernatural Seminar with Michael Heiser - understanding the unseen powers and God’s purpose

 

This Four part lecture series on YouTube is largely based on Dr. Heiser’s book The Unseen Realm. Each video (ranging from 50 to 80 minutes each) has a link to the next. These videos were filmed a few years before his death in 2023. Most of the video recaps materials from the book, about the elohim, the divine council, the three rebellions, the fallen elohim, the Nephilim (children born to human women fathered by fallen angels), Moses and Joshua dealing with this demonic seed, and the New Testament perspective on spiritual warfare in this context. This is a different  medium (and more accessible to many) than his scholarly tome.

One point Dr. Heiser makes is often understated or ignored by others, which is God’s purpose in creating humanity. God created the elohim, with the purpose of assigning them roles in His creation. He then (later) created humanity, with the purpose of assigning them different roles. (Genesis 1:28) Dr. Heiser infers that Satan and other rebellious elohim were furious that they were being sidelined for this role. It is not entirely clear whether Satan’s rebellion preceded God’s decision and plan, or was because of it. In any event, Satan conspired to destroy humankind by tricking and tempting humans into self-destructive sin, which continues to this day.

What the rebellious elohim did not understand was God’s plan of redemption. They did not truly understand His nature and character: how His love and His holiness merged into the greatest rescue plan in all eternity - Jesus’ propitiatory death on the cross. God’s plan is that redeemed humans will have His nature and character inextricably embedded in the core of their very being. And that these redeemed humans will then fulfill His plan to have an earth ruled and cared for by humans who share His values, His character, His essential essence.

The implications of this for our present life should be obvious (at least, after watching the videos). Our present life should be focused firstly on being in right-standing with God, and then disciplining ourselves to conform to His image. This means that we have to learn to see every situation from His viewpoint, to respond with love and holiness and justice and mercy integrated in working to a result that He would seek. This training occurs in our everyday life situations, it is the purpose of our current life on this earth. We see this exhibited in first responders, farmers, medical professionals, veterinarians, teachers, and many others.  That is, people called by God to careers that involve helping people be fruitful and increase in number, filling the earth and subduing it, ruling over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky and over every living creature that moves on the ground. If we are ultimately to serve Christ in eternity, He has to be able to trust us! This is more than career, it is a heart fully submitted to His heart.

  

Book Review: The Christ of the Mount, by E. Stanley Jones.

A Working Philosophy of Life; Exploring the Sermon on the Mount

E. Stanley Jones (1884-1973) was a missionary to India for several decades and also published over thirty books. He writes from the context of dealing with Hindu and Muslim cultures, to which he witnessed for Christ, but they dominated society. In this context, he explains that the Sermon on the Mount provides a prescription for a stable society of peace and justice, and that those of the other religions recognize that these commands of Christ will work, even without acknowledging Jesus for who He is. The other religions portray approaches to addressing the deepest needs of the human soul, but only Jesus delivers. Sadly, it is not only other religions want the goods without the Savior, many Christian churches have a creed and a dogma, but not the Savior in their lives.

The British Empire had conquered India in the late 18th century, in the form of the British East India Tea Company, and the British government took over direct rule in 1858. By the early 20th century, the Indian people’s restiveness was boiling to the point of ultimately achieving self-rule and independence in 1947. This was a turbulent setting for which the peace that the truths in the Sermon on the Mount were desperately needed in. Yet the commands of Jesus seem impossible. The themes of the Sermon are laid out: perfection, new humanity and new morals, divided personality as the cause of our dysfunction, and the way out of it.

In the chapter titled, ‘The Authority of Jesus, Waxing or Waning?’, Jones describes a practical application of these principles in the Indian struggle for independence from the British Empire. 

As Lord Irwin and Mahatma Gandhi sat face to face, almost every single modern problem— economic, social, political, racial, personal—was focused there, at least in germ form. Out of the seemingly hopeless tangle they found a way—at any rate the first steps—to the way out. How did they do it? The representatives of the newspapers asked Mahatma Gandhi, “What miracle turned the tide of negotiations when everything seemed lost?” His answer was, “Goodness on the part of Lord Irwin; and if I may say so, apologetically, goodness on my own part. Then it was the application of the principles of the Sermon on the Mount that brought peace.” In this complex situation was Jesus authoritative? To that situation apply force, apply unbending self-assertion, apply anything except the way of Jesus, and it would have ended in a breakdown and an impasse.

A bit later in the same chapter, “ …there is a clash going on between East and West and the East feels that she [India] cannot afford to adopt the religion of her conquerors. That would make her lose her own national soul. But she cannot escape the One who is the heart of that religion.”

Thus, after explaining the practicality of Jesus’ teachings, he shows the societal consequences of actually following them. Before this, he talks about the need to both build on a firm foundation, and to build a house well. The one who builds such a life is blessed with survival of the storms of life. The secret of this is that “… he [Jesus] does not impose laws on life. He expounds life itself, and he regenerates it.” That is the secret to both doing the seemingly impossible, and the social fruit of obedience.

Turning aging on its head - the lesser of two evils?

President Biden’s decision to withdraw from the race reflects wisdom that he is not given credit for. Former President Trump shows some of the same symptoms of aging, but he is not likely to back down. 

After over fifty years of labor, the Jubilee year is commanded as a celebration of God’s goodness. (Leviticus 25) This is not retirement, but trusting God to provide while the nation takes time to refresh their understanding of and commitment to God’s ways.  One major aspect of the commandment is that land is to revert to its ancestral owners. That is, poor people who sold the land they inherited are to return to it. Israelites who were forced by poverty to sell themselves into slavery are to go free. The purpose of this arrangement is to recognize that the land and the people are the Lord’s, and His people are blessed to live in it, and to be His people. The wisdom that comes with age is parallel to this, i.e., after fifty years of living before the Lord, older people should recognize the blessing that comes from heeding and obeying God’s word. (Proverbs 16:31, 20:29)

In the 1930’s, the world experienced a decade of rest (which actually began in September, 1929, just before Rosh Hashana).  But this was not a blessing to most of the world because of their failure to acknowledge God. The U.S. experienced a great revival due to necessity - people crying out to God because of need. And they did need Him. We need Him now. Godless rulers are a fact of life. (Pope Francis hit that on the head - we are stuck with having to choose the lesser of two evils!) But Daniel flourished and honored God in the most trying of circumstances. And God is faithful to His word and His people. Regardless who becomes President in January 2025, Jesus is still King of His people, the King of Kings. 

Sadly, what Pope Francis said on September 13 reflects the true dilemma we face: choosing the lesser of two evils. At an age when most are basking in retirement, Mr. Trump is going all out to return to the White House. But the dilemma is the moral choices behind the primary policy thrusts of both he and Vice President Harris.

• Vice President Harris wants to legalize abortion as a matter of Federal law. After the Supreme Court ruled that this is not a Constitutionally protected right, she and her allies want a Federal Law that will override all state laws on this subject. In short, she wants to enshrine the evil of child sacrifice in Federal law.
• Former President Trump plans to secure the border and deport millions of immigrants. The  kerfuffle about Haitian immigrants in Springfield, Ohio shows several things.

• He does not welcome or tolerate strangers, even when they are fleeing evil in their own countries.
• He does not seem to care about the difference between legal and illegal immigrants.
• He believes wild rumors from social media and treats them as truth while simultaneously denouncing broadcast media as full of lies. In other words, he is unwilling to put in the effort to discriminate between truth and lies.

If he does not put in effort to discriminate at the level of facts, it is unlikely he will put effort into discriminating moral values or how God’s commands apply.

Although aging and retirement can be aligned with mental decline, they can also be the context for wisdom and celebration. The deciding factor is moral decline. Are we (the aging) aligned with God, His ways, and His word? But this question is not age related, it is only that the passage of time reveals the true condition of our hearts. This is the blessing of old age, and of the year of jubilee - that respect for and obedience to God results in fruit. Sadly, disrespect and disobedience also results in fruit, but that fruit is not desirable. One need only read the book of Jeremiah to recognize what harvest we are reaping in our country, today.