Christ Covenant Church and her members will no longer identify themselves as Christians or their religion as Christianity. We are instead New Covenant Jews – and our religion, New Covenant Judaism.[1] The following represent the reasons for this change:

1. Jesus did not come to create a new religion (e.g., Christianity) but a new covenant for the already existing and ancient religion of Judaism first established (under the old covenant) at Mt. Sinai. 

1.1. (Luk 22:20 w/Jer 31:31) = Not a new religion (e.g., Christianity) but a new covenant for the already existing religion of “the house of Israel and the house of Judah” (i.e., Judaism; hence Luk 24:27 “Moses” and “the prophets” – or the Law and Prophets represent the Scriptures defining the religion of Judaism).[2] (Heb 8:1-13 w/9:10 “reformation” [Grk., diorthosis = To make improvements on something already in existence]) = The author of Hebrews views Jesus’ ministry and covenant as an improvement (“better covenant…better promises”), a reformation versus a replacement of the existing religion that “Moses” and the Jews received at Mt. Sinai (v5 “on the mountain” w/Exo 25:40). (Joh 4:22) “salvation is from the Jews” = Salvation is only available through the religion of the Jews (Judaism).

1.2. If Jesus had started a new religion, He would have been a false teacher and deserved to die (Deu 12:32-13:3; Isa 8:20).

1.3. In relation to Christianity constituting a new – and therefore false religion consider God’s words just before His promise of a new covenant (Jer 31:27-30 w/Eze 18:1-4 w/19-20) = Penal substitution was the evil and unethical practice of the pagan nations around Israel who served demons (Lev 18:21, 20:3-5; Jer 32:35). As such, God not only condemns it under the old covenant version of His religion but promises its condemnation will be the sign of those following His new covenant version in the future.

1.4. The fact that all three branches of Christianity today (Roman Catholicism, Eastern Orthodoxy and Evangelical/Protestant Christianity) embrace not only penal substitution but the equally unethical doctrines of trinitarian monotheism and original sin (Joh 8:16-17; Eze 18:20) confirm they no longer represent what God promised and Jesus established. They are apostate.    

Brad H. Young (Jesus The Jewish Theologian)

“Jesus was a Jew. He never changed religions. He was loyal to his people, committed to Torah in faith and practice…always remaining true to the vision of the prophets of his own ancient faith tradition.”

Marvin R. Wilson (Our Father Abraham: Jewish Roots Of The Christian Faith)

“As far as the Gospel record is concerned, Jesus spoke from within Judaism; he never abandoned his ancestral faith.”

Joachim Jeremias (The Central Message of the New Testament)

“[Jesus was] a prophet who remained completely within the limits of Judaism.” 

Frederick E. Greenspahn (Early Judaism: New Insights and Scholarship)

“Jesus, an itinerant Jewish teacher born and active in the first three decades of the first century CE, had no intention of beginning a new religion. Rather, Jesus operated within an exclusively Jewish [context], as did his earliest followers. Although they were different in some ways from other Jewish groups among whom they lived, their ideas and practices fall well within the Jewish spectrum…From a historical point of view it is clear that [Jesus] had no intention of beginning a movement that in time would not consider itself or be considered by others to be Jewish. Christianity was Judaism.”

2. The apostles viewed themselves and their fellow disciples as Jews practicing a form of Judaism.

2.1. The Apostle Paul viewed himself as “called” not converted to be a minister of a new covenant not a new religion: 1) (Gal 1:11-17) = What changed for Paul was not his religion (“Judaism”) but understanding that Jesus was indeed the Christ and that God had now “called” him to “preach Him among the Gentiles.” 2) (Act 21:15-26) = The only reason Paul would abide by James’ request is if the religion he continued to practice was a form of Judaism. 3) (2Co 3:1-7) = Not ministers of a new religion but a new covenant – one able to grant eternal life.

2.2. Even the Jews viewed Paul as still following a form of Judaism (Act 24:14) “a sect” [Grk., heiresis]= A group/party within an existing religion (in this case, Judaism) whose beliefs or practice on some things are different from its other members (Act 24:5 “sect of the Nazarenes” = Those within Judaism who believed Jesus of Nazareth was the Messiah; e.g., Act 26:5 “sect of our religion”). On this note consider also: 1) (Act 15:5) “sect of the Pharisees” = These men were still strict followers of Judaism. IOW: They did not see their belief in Jesus as Messiah as a change to a new religion – hence the reason for their demand that the Gentiles be “circumcise[d]” and “observe the Law of Moses.” Their error was covenantal not religious (i.e., new covenants receive new signs/application to distinguish them from previous covs – e.g., Abe [cir.], Old [circ. + sabs]). 2) (Act 28:17-22) = The only reason these Jews were willing to hear Paul is because what he was preaching was still a form of Judaism (again, a “sect” – as in a sect within Judaism). If Paul had converted to an entirely different religion, no Jew would have come or been invited. As further support, notice Paul refers to his religious persecution as “for the sake of the hope of Israel” (20). Israel’s hope was a new covenant not a new religion. Lastly notice also, where he goes to prove the veracity of his message – “the Law of Moses and the Prophets,” (the Scripture defining the religion of Judaism - v23).

2.3.  Paul identifies the followers of Jesus (including Gentiles) as spiritual Jews - and the Church, as Israel (Rom 2:26-29; Rom 11:17, 24 Gal 6:16; Eph 2:11-13; Phi 3:3). Paul also claims that Gentiles becoming Jews -and part of Israel, is what will make ethnic Jews and Israel, “jealous” (Rom 11:11).

2.4. The Apostle James identifies the followers of Jesus as constituting the twelve tribes of Israel (Jam 1:1) and mentions them meeting in synagogues – the meeting place of those practicing Judaism! (Jam 2:2 “assembly” [Grk., synagogue]; In this same vein – Act 5:12).

2.5. The term “church” (Grk., ekklesia) also possesses Jewish roots. It is the same word used to identify Israel -or the OC community, in the Septuagint (LXX).

2.6. The Apostles Paul, John and Peter, all identify the disciples of Jesus and the church, as the community now possessing Israel’s ancestry, religion and promised priesthood (1Co 10:1 “our forefathers”; Rev 1:6 w/1Pe 2:5 w/9 = Allusions to the OC priesthood of Judaism which God promised to restore [Exo 19:6 w/Isa 61:1-6 [Luk 4:18] and 66:21]).[3]

James Cantor (“James? Jacob! Brother of Yeshua, first Leader of the Church”)

James and the disciples of Jesus did not see themselves as Christians. They saw themselves as Jews who followed the Jewish Messiah. It needs to be kept squarely in view that these people did not view themselves as founding a new religion…James views the gospel message as a case of Old Testament promises to Jews being fulfilled, and Gentiles joining a Jewish messianic movement centered on Jesus, not of Jews joining some new religion.”

Craig A. Evans (Anti-Semitism and Early Christianity)

“Early Christians did not view themselves as belonging to a religion that was distinctive from Judaism. New Testament Christianity was Judaism – that is, what was believed to be the true expression of Judaism.”

Daniel Boyarin (Dying For God)

“Christianity developed out of the ‘orthodox’ Judaism of the first century.”

W.D. Davies (Paul and Rabbinic Judaism)

“In Paul’s response to Christ, the Messiah, he came to understand the Christian life as patterned after that of Judaism: it was for him not the antithesis but the full flowering of that [religion]’… Paul himself understands the Christian dispensation to be ‘according to the [Jewish] Scriptures’ and in this he was not alone in the Early Church…Paul’s appeal to the Old Testament for support seems to make the radical dichotomy between…‘Christianity’ and ‘Judaism,’ in our judgment, untenable. If the Apostle conceived of his Christian faith simply as something that was not ‘Judaism’, and held that what was wrong with the latter was that it was not ‘Christianity’, his intense involvement with the Scriptures of his people [i.e., the Jews] becomes puzzling…Paul belonged to the main stream of first-century Judaism, and…elements of his thought, which are often labelled as Hellenistic…[are rather] derived from Judaism…It would be erroneous to think that Paul regarded Christianity as the antithesis of Judaism as has so often been claimed. On the contrary, it appears that for the Apostle the Christian Faith was the full flowering of Judaism, the outcome of the latter and its fulfillment; in being obedient to the Gospel he was merely being obedient to the true form of Judaism. The Gospel for Paul was not the annulling of Judaism but its completion, and as such it took up into itself the essential genius of Judaism…We cannot too strongly insist again that for [Paul] the acceptance of the Gospel was not so much the rejection of the old Judaism and the discovery of a new religion wholly antithetical to it… but the recognition of the advent of the true and final form of Judaism.”

Marvin R. Wilson (Our Father Abraham: Jewish Roots Of The Christian Faith)

“The Church, firmly planted in Hebraic soil, finds its true identity in connection with Israel. The Church is fed, sustained, and supported by this relationship…The more biblical one becomes, the more [Jewish] one will be…The Church is, in a tangible sense, the outgrowth of Judaism…[Paul’s] Bible was the Tanak, his God was the God of his fathers, his Messiah was a Jew, and from the Jews alone emerged his mother church… Gentiles who had come to faith within the early Church joined themselves to God’s ancient people [the Jews]. They had to adjust to Israel, not the reverse… Jesus and his followers and the believers of the earliest Church found their identity as part of Judaism.”

W.D. Davies (The Gospel and the Land)

“The very matrix of Christianity is Judaism: Christianity is the very bone of Judaism.”

Alan Segal (Rebecca’s Children: Judaism and Christianity in the Roman World)

“Although Christianity’s destiny brought it to Rome and world prominence, its beginnings were in sectarian Judaism.”

Gerald R. McDermott (Understanding the Jewish Roots of Christianity: Biblical, Theological, and Historical)

“Jesus and the early church had deep roots in Judaism, and neither attempted to break from those roots.” 

Matthew S.C. Olver (“Important Jewish Influences on Early Christian Worship”)

“For a while Christianity was itself one of the many forms of Judaism. This means the early Jews who believed in Jesus as Messiah and Son of God would not have thought of themselves as anything other than Jews.” 

Stephen De Young (The Religion of the Apostles: Orhtodox Christianity in the First Century)

“It is a plain fact of history that in AD 35, Judaism and Christianity were not two separate religions…Clearly Paul does not see himself as someone who has left Judaism or the religion of his fathers [i.e., converted] but as one who was called to a particular service, despite a sinful past persecuting Christ and His Church…Saint Paul perceives himself as persisting in the same religious tradition…To summarize all this, St. Paul understood the religion he practiced (and the gospel he proclaimed) after his encounter with Christ as a continuation of that which he had practiced his entire life. He did not perceive himself to have disembarked from that earlier religion [of Judaism] and entered another [Christianity]…He saw the Gentiles he baptized as entering the religion of his youth; worshipping Yahweh, the God of Israel; and becoming children of Abraham…The Greek term typically translated as ‘Church’ is used throughout the Greek Old Testament to refer to the gathering together of the people of Israel. Its meaning is the same as in the New Testament – the Church is the assembly of Israel, God’s people, which has been renewed and restored…The tribes formerly lost have been reconstituted from among the nations into which they were dispersed. The notion that the Church has ‘replaced’ Israel or is somehow a ‘new Israel’ is nonsensical once one understands the language the Scriptures speak. The Church is Israel. Specifically, the Church is the assembly of Israel.”

David B. Capes (Israel’s God and Rebecca’s Children Christology and Community in Early Judaism and Christianity)

“[Scholars] regard earliest Christianity as a species of late Second Temple Judaism.”

3. The term “Christian” was not prescribed by Jesus or His apostles; rather it was coined by outsiders as a way to distinguish their sect of Judaism from others.

3.1. The term appears only three times in Scripture, each attributed to those outside the church (Act 11:26; Act 26:28; 1Pe 4:16).

3.2. Those in the church were not opposed to the term (e.g., Act 26:28 w/29), because they recognized it as simply one of the ways others (most especially the Jews) distinguished their form (or sect) of Judaism from others (e.g., Act 24:5, 14).

Daniel Boyarin (Dying For God)

“In the Jewish world of the first century, there were many sects competing for the name of the true Israel and the true interpreter of the Torah – the Talmud itself speaks of twenty-four such sects - and the form of Judaism that was to be the seedbed of what eventually became the Church was but one of those sects… and only much later became defined as [a] separate religion[].”

4. Only after the destruction of the Temple in 70 AD  - and not prominently until the 4th century, did those claiming to follow Jesus identify their religion as Christianity in an attempt to distinguish it from Judaism.

Daniel Boyarin (Dying For God)

“For at least the first three centuries of their common lives, Judaism in all its forms and Christianity in all its forms were part of one complex religious family, twins in the womb, contending with each other for identity and precedence…It was the birth of the hegemonic Catholic Church [fourth century], however, that seems finally to have precipitated the consolation of rabbinic Judaism as Jewish orthodoxy, with all its rivals, including the so-called Jewish Christianities, apparently largely vanquished. It was then that Judaism and Christianity finally emerged from the womb as genuinely independent children… Only the latter success of Christianity [in the fourth century] determined retroactively, that in its earlier relationship with the Rabbis it was a separate religion. It took the historical processes [under Constantine and Roman empire] of what we might call the long fourth century [including its Church councils] before the ‘parting of the ways’ was achieved…[Or] as Rosemary Radford Ruether put it, ‘the fourth century is the first century for Christianity and Judaism [as separate religions].”

Marvin R. Wilson (Our Father Abraham: Jewish Roots Of The Christian Faith)

 “The destruction of Jerusalem and the disappearance of all major sects but the Pharisees forced a reformulation of Judaism…Through the work of the Pharisees, a new Judaism gradually emerged. Rabbinic Judaism, as it came to be called, was a separate religion from [the Judaism of the Church]…[By the] second, third, and fourth centuries a new spirit of arrogance and supersessionsim had arisen [within the Church]…The tearing away from Jewish roots resulted in the Church defining itself largely in non-Jewish terminology. The word Christianity, derived from the Greek rendering (Christos) of the Hebrew mashiah, meaning ‘Messiah’ is representative of this process.”

5. If Jesus is the Messiah, then His religion is New Covenant Judaism.

5.1. The idea of a coming Messiah, sent by God to bring His law, justice and spiritual light or salvation to the world originates within the Old Testament Scriptures and the religion of Israel – otherwise known as Judaism.

5.2. Judaism therefore is the only religion where the statement “Jesus is the Messiah” has any relevance.

5.3. More importantly and specifically, Judaism is the soteriological context of those prophecies regarding Israel’s coming Messiah and the establishing of a new covenant (Isa 42:1-7 [“law” = A term used throughout the OT to refer to the religion given to the Jews at Mt. Sinai – i.e., Judaism; See also Isa 2:1-3; Mic 4:1-3]; Isa 49:1-8).

5.4. Therefore, to believe that Jesus is the Messiah, is to equally believe His religion is New Covenant Judaism.

CLOSING CONTEMPLATION: “The vital issue for the Church is to decide whether to look for roots in Judaism and consider itself an extension of Judaism, or to look for roots in pagan Hellenism and consider itself as an antithesis to Judaism.” - Abraham Hesche (The Insecurity of Freedom)

[1] This make take time to get used to, but we must be diligent to no longer accept or identify w/these terms in any way. This includes when asked by others, “Are you a Christian?” Our answer must be, “No. I am a New Covenant Jew.”

[2] Covenant and religion are not the same thing. Covenant is the legal binding of two parties in formal relationship. When one of those parties is God, we call that relationship, religion. What God first extended to Israel was religion (e.g., Exo 20:1-17 -the rules of the relationship), then, when Israel accepted, each were bound to each other in covenant (Exo 24:7-8). As such, the mention of covenant – as in new covenant, implies an already existing relationship – or religion. Covenants change, the religion does not (hence Mat 5:17-18 “law” = love, the “heart” of relationship).  

[3] According to the author of Hebrews, the priests of Judaism are the only ones associated w/Abraham and therefore in service to his priest, Melchizedek – or Jesus (Heb 7:1-21).

Worldview (def.,) = What humans express through their religion (loyalty/truth), ethics (values/justice) and culture (identity/beauty) as the answer to the question, “why do we exist?”

1. People should reject all forms of Christianity not only because its doctrines are unethical but also its worldview.

1.1. There are three main branches of Christianity: Roman Catholicism, Eastern Orthodoxy and Protestant/Evangelical Christianity that exist in the world today. All three prove to be completely unethical (and therefore false) w/regard to the following:

1.1.1. their doctrines of Trinitarian Monotheism (Joh 8:17-18 “two-witness rule requires the witnesses be separate beings), Original Sin (Eze 18:20; Rom 5 and 7 teach sinful inclination/impulse/drive [not the stain of sin/original sin] was passed on from Adam – which was the popular belief w/in ancient Judaism known as “ha yetzer ha-ra”[Heb.] See W.D. Davies, Paul and Rabbinic Judaism, p.20), Perfectionism and Total Depravity (Deu 28:1 w/30:11-14).

1.1.2. their embrace of a FAG (i.e., we are ultimately only saved by what God/Christ has done on our behalf) (Eze 33:18-20 w/Rev 20:12) which includes the belief that Christ was punished for our sins (Jer 31:27-30 w/31-34; Eze 18:4 w/20; Lev 27:29).

1.1.3. their creation of a new religion (Joh 4:22 “we worship what we know for salvation is from the Jews”) = Judaism is the religion from God. Anything not consistent w/that is worshipping what “you do not know” – i.e., false religion. If Jesus had created a new religion – one not demonstrating consistency/continuity with Judaism, then He was a false teacher Who deserved to die (Deu 12:32-13:3). The fact that He (Jesus) established a “new covenant” confirms He was not starting a new religion since such a statement implies an already existing religion. Rather, Jesus established, New Covenant Judaism, the fulfillment of Jeremiah 31:31. Christianity (in all its modern manifestations) is a new religion. It bears no continuity with Judaism as testified to also by its FAG - or rejection of the gain and maintain mechanics that are a part of every saving covenant and gospel in the Old Testament – most especially original - or OC Judaism.

1.2. What however may prove to be the most overlooked evidence of Christianity’s unethical nature, is the worldview created by its false gospel and doctrines: “This Life Is God’s Testimony” = God created this world as the place where He would testify to our complete inability to do anything that could please Him or get us to heaven (“you suck”) and His abundant mercy in sending His Son to do it all for us (“Jesus is the Only One Who doesn’t suck”). Getting to heaven requires we not only adopt (believe in) this as our worldview but also practice daily self-abasement (e.g., Wayne’s World, “we’re not worthy!”) and cessation from anything that might imply we can contribute something to our salvation (e.g., Tim Keller, “we need to repent of our repentance”; Tullian Tchividjian, Jesus Plus Nothing Equals Everything). Why this worldview is unethical: Based on their beliefs, God is the reason we suck. God should therefore be apologizing not rubbing our noses in it. Likewise, Christ should not be viewed as an act of mercy, but the obligation He possess to fix His screw-up.

1.3. Given the apostasy that for some time has characterized all main branches of Christianity, we must reject not only the religion but also the term “Christian” as our identity. New Covenant Judaism is our religion, and “New Covenant Jews”, our identity.

2. The worldview taught in the God’s Word and therefore by His religion, New Covenant Judaism, is “This Life Is A Test.”

2.1. God created this world as humanity’s temporary testing site, the place where – based on our life performance, we choose what in the future will serve as our permanent and eternal home (heaven/Reboot/New Creation or hell). This is the worldview taught in God’s Word and therefore by those following His religion, New Covenant Judaism (Pro 17:3 = Through testing the heart [the place determining our actions – Mat 12:34], God is able to determine who among humanity has chosen to be precious moral metal and who has chosen to be moral dross).

2.2. This worldview (“This Life Is A Test”) therefore possesses two salient points: 1) every single person’s life in this world (every circumstance good or bad) is their personal and particular test (their test-life). 2) God is going to give to every person who has ever lived, what they by their responses to the circumstances of this test-life chose (deserve) as their future, permanent and eternal version of life (Gal 6:7-8 “what a man sows…”) = We – not God, are the ones determining by our choices our eternal home. Those persons who therefore choose “sow to their flesh” – or choose self and the inequity of this world as what they follow, have inadvertently also chosen to fail their test and possess hell as their future, permanent and eternal home.

2.3. What was told to ancient proselytes of Judaism: 1) “Be informed that the world to come exists only for the righteous (for Jews who keep the commandments of God).” (Yabamot – 47). 2) “In paradise at some future time, there would be a banquet, the Messianic feast, where the meat of Leviathan [will] be served, as [will] wine preserved in its grapes since the days of Creation.” – Samuel Sandmel (Judaism and Christian Beginnings).   

2.4. To pass the test that is our life – or be worthy of eternal life with God in the new Creation (the Reboot/new heavens and new earth) (Rev 21-22), a world full of happiness, unending love (or righteousness) - and therefore free from inequity (or wickedness and sin) and unhappiness, requires we - during our test-life, “sow from the Spirit”(Gal 6:8) – i.e., we choose to love all freewill beings (e.g., God and humans) with equity by not only gaining a marriage covenant relationship with His Son Jesus Christ (His love gift to us - 1Jo 4:9) through baptismal rebirth/a vow of faith in His church, but also maintaining that covenant through frequent table observance, faithful obedience to all His laws (Mat 22:37-40 = God’s Law is how we love/show equity to Him and others; Rom 13:8-10) and loyalty to Christ and His covenant family over our blood family for the rest of our life (i.e., God made humanity as His weaker vessel [image] for the same reason He made the woman for the man – to create loyal family – not friends who have families loyal to them) (1Pe 3:21; Gal 3:26-27 [Rom 3:28]//Mat 28:19-20; Phi 2:12, 3:8-16; Jam 2:24//Act 2:42, 46, 20:7; Luk 22:14-23 w/Joh 13:1-20; 1Co 11:23-26//Mat 5:17-20//Mat 10:34-37, 19:29-30; Mar 3:21 w/31-35; Luk 14:25; Joh 13:34-35// Mat 16:26-27 “deeds” = This life is our test not our treasure).

2.5. Beside the aforementioned, loving God and others with equity also includes:

1) bold evangelism of the lost – especially blood family (Joh 14:16-17 w/Joh 16:8 = no conversion w/o HS conviction, no HS conviction w/o bold evangelism [sin, righteousness and judgment]; Mat 10:27 w/32-37 = Jesus will view people who are weak in their confrontation of family [bc they are worried about losing them] as loving them more than Him).

2) immediate separation from the unrepentant – especially from blood family (1Co 5:9-13; 2Jo 1:9-11; 2Co 6:14-18; Mat 19:27 w/29)

3) implementing staunch measures against the idolatry of dissipation – especially bc of blood family (Luk 21:34 w/Mat 24:42-51 did not prepare for the “thief”/their “master” = Dissipation; also Mat 25:24-30; 1Co 7:29-31).

2.6. It is clear that not everybody is given the same opportunities in life or potential to experience and possess the same things. Any worldview therefore that teaches this life is the only place where will we be able to experience the good things of Creation (e.g., Atheism) is inherently inequitable (since some were given more than others). Knowing however that this life is simply the test, and that it is my choices – or responses to the test –and not where I start or what I get in this life that determines the kind of life I will possess in eternity means that the test-life of every single human being who has ever lived has always been perfectly equitable. In short, though you cannot pick your test-life (i.e., the circumstances of your life in this world), you do determine your performance on the test and therefore where you will end up in eternity – which means (once more) every single situation that a person could end up in this life is completely equitable and fair.

2.7. Ignorance of the “test” worldview is a major reason many people have a hard time accepting hard things in their life - or the lives of their loved ones (e.g., child with cancer; this was the main reason for Job’s confusion and his friends’ bad counsel). 

3. God has perfectly customized your life tests to produce in you those things necessary to realize your greatest potential and desires in the Reboot.

3.1. This too is why our life-test is ethical. We (by our potential and desires) are essentially ordering up the kinds of tests (circumstances) we need to pass in order to realize (or be qualified to receive) those things in the Reboot (e.g., the tests or career-trajectory of someone who wants to qualify or competently function as a doctor).

3.2. (Job 34:10-12) = God shows Himself equitable (“The Almighty does not pervert justice”) not only by “pay[ing] a man according to his work” (He gives us what we chose/deserve based on our responses to life’s tests) but also by the fact that He only “makes [us] find” as our tests those things “according to [our] way” – i.e., those things that will qualify us to realize our greatest potential and desires.

(Psa 37:1-6) = Those who did not follow the worldview of the wicked (life is about cultivating the world/getting out of it as much as I can for myself), but rather saw their life in this world as the test - or place to instead focus on – or “cultivate faithfulness”, will be found on “judgment” day to have passed the test in “righteousness” and will - as a result, receive the “desires” of their “heart” in the Reboot.

4 . Those despising or attempting to avoid God’s prescribed tests are despising or attempting to avoid going to the Reboot.

Hence the reason James says what he does in (Jam 1:1-12) (v4) “lacking in nothing” (that would keep you from passing the final test). IOW: we need to be tested so we can pass the final test (i.e., Judgment Day) and get to the Reboot (hence the title of this point).

(v5) “lacks wisdom” (regarding what else is true regarding life’s tests); the wisdom they are lacking:

1) (v9) = The more tests (“humble circumstances”), the more potential for glory or a high position in the Reboot.

2) (v10=11) = The fewer the tests (e.g., life of a “rich man” or those defined by worldly “pursuits”), the fewer the chances of getting to heaven (his eternal end will be in “humiliation”; Luk 16:25; 1Co 3:10-15).

3) (v12) = Passing the tests (“persever[ing] until trial”) will win you the “promised” “crown of life” (eternal life in the Reboot; 2Ti 4:7-8 “the righteous Judge” = The Judge giving to everyone exactly what their responses to the tests deserve). Notice (btw) James confirms that those passing the tests and receiving this eternal prize are “those who love Him.” The entire test that is this world is a test of love. God only wants to spend eternity with those who were accurate image-bearers of Him (and “God is love” – 1Jo 3:8).

5. The only tests that can be beyond your ability to conquer - and therefore possessing the power to re-enslave you and send you to hell, are those which are self-inflicted.

5.1. (Jam 1:13-18) = God’s tests are the “perfect gift” since they are both trials we can pass (God is not tricking us or setting us up for failure, “in Him there is no variation or shifting shadow”) and intended to confirm us as “first fruits” or new creations fit for the coming New Creation/Reboot. This is in contrast to those tests that come from our own unrepentant “lusts.” Such trials (v13 “tempted”- verbal form of the word translated “trial” in v12) are neither intended for our good nor guaranteed to be the kinds of tests we can pass. Hence why they often lead to “death” (2Pe 2:9 and 19-22 w/3:17-18).

5.2. Again, God is just or equitable in allowing for this since it is our choice. They are “self-inflicted” –i.e., we are freely choosing to do it to ourselves. God is not going to force us to do right – or stop us from falling back into sin if that is what we want. In short, we are free to choose (hence Deu 30:19). 

6. Not changing what God sees as the source of your sinful anger, forgetfulness of His laws and slanderous speech will prove to also be the reason you fail life’s tests and forfeit your reservation in the Reboot.

1) you get angry when your life - or view of life, is confronted or corrected by God’s Word because you are unteachable (Jam 1:19-21) “quick to hear [or listen], slow to speak, slow to become angry” = You are teachable, giving your full attention and trust to understanding and valuing every single word being spoken to you when confronted or corrected by God’s Word – especially when it is spoken to you via your covenant bros/sis – versus getting angry and defensive which often also includes being distracted w/your thoughts and discrediting what they say. Such anger forfeits that person’s ability to learn righteousness (or v20, “achieve the righteousness of God”) (Jam 5:19-20; Psa 141:5; Pro 27:6).

2) you forget God’s laws because you think too highly of yourself (Jam 1:22-25) = The reason a person becomes a “forgetful hearer” and not an “effectual doer” of God’s law is b/c they refuse to believe what His law reveals about their true spiritual state/health (they see who they are in God’s “mirror” but “immediately” forget “what kind of person” they are). IOW: they choose to believe their state to be better than what was revealed. Because of such overvaluation, they undervalue the seriousness of their moral situation – and as a result, their need to be vigilant in remembering God’s laws (Psa 119:9-16) = David’s passion in seeking to remember/not forget God’s laws is fueled by the knowledge of his fragile moral state (vv10-11 “that I may not wander…that I may not sin”= No seeking to remember will result in plenty of wandering and sin; Jer 17:5, 7, 9-10; Rom 7:18).  

3) you don’t bridle your tongue because your heart’s devotion is not preserving and protecting the equity of others and minimizing your own sin (Jam 1:26-27) “bridle his tongue” = Keep it from speaking slanderous/unrighteous things against others. “keep oneself unstained by the world” = Our forgiveness/cleansing from sin has a limit. If we are not aggressive about avoiding sin and removing its practice from our life, we run the risk of re-corrupting our spirits. Once that happens, the ability to receive further or future forgiveness/cleansing is lost. Hence (again 2Pe 2:19-22 w/3:14; 1Ti 6:14; Phi 2:14-15; 2Co 7:1) “visit orphans and widows in their distress” = In the ANE these two groups represent those persons most vulnerable to inequity and therefore most in need of others to protect and preserve equity for them. This is what it means to follow Christ (Mat 16:13-25) = Whatever Jesus means by follow Me, we can rule out [e.g., multiple choice strategy]: 1) belief or trust in Jesus’ person and work (13-20), 2) selfish for Jesus’ well-being (21-23 = Jesus forgoing the cross would make God unjust). Which leaves us with only one answer = To follow Jesus means to imitate Him or bear His image/identity/heart disposition which was preserving and protecting the equity of others (not self/self-preservation; Mar 10:45). Hence why we must “take up [our] cross” and “deny self” in order to do it (Phi 2:1-5; Spock, “the needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few or one”) This is btw how we fulfill (Mat 7:12 and Mat 22:37-39).

CLOSING CONTEMPLATION: Why would Jesus forgoing the cross make God unjust?

Worldview (def.,) = What humans express through their religion (loyalty/truth), ethics (values/justice) and culture (identity/beauty) as the answer to the question, “why do we exist?”

1. People should reject all forms of Christianity not only because its doctrines are unethical but also its worldview.

1.1. There are three main branches of Christianity: Roman Catholicism, Eastern Orthodoxy and Protestant/Evangelical Christianity that exist in the world today. All three prove to be completely unethical (and therefore false) w/regard to the following:

1.1.1. their doctrines of Trinitarian Monotheism (Joh 8:17-18 “two-witness rule requires the witnesses be separate beings), Original Sin (Eze 18:20), Perfectionism and Total Depravity (Deu 28:1 w/30:11-14).

1.1.2. their embrace of a FAG (i.e., we are ultimately only saved by what God/Christ has done on our behalf) (Eze 33:18-20 w/Rev 20:12) which includes the belief that Christ was punished for our sins (Eze 18:4 w/20; Lev 27:29).

1.1.3. their creation of a new religion (Joh 4:22 “we worship what we know for salvation is from the Jews”) = Judaism is the religion from God. Anything not consistent w/that is worshipping what “you do not know” – i.e., false religion. If Jesus had created a new religion – one not demonstrating consistency/continuity with Judaism, then He was a false teacher Who deserved to die (Deu 12:32-13:3). The fact that He established a “new covenant” confirms He was not starting a new religion since such a statement implies an already existing religion. Rather, Jesus established, New Covenant Judaism, the fulfillment of Jeremiah 31:31. Christianity (in all its modern manifestations) is a new religion. It bears no continuity with Judaism as testified to also by its FAG - or rejection of the gain and maintain mechanics that are a part of every saving covenant and gospel in the Old Testament – most especially original - or Old Covenant Judaism (Exo 24:7-8).   

1.2. What however may prove to be the most overlooked evidence of Christianity’s unethical nature, is the worldview created by its false gospel and doctrines: “This Life Is God’s Testimony” = God created this world as the place where He would testify to our complete inability to do anything that could please Him or get us to heaven (“you suck”) and His abundant mercy in sending His Son to do it all for us (“Jesus is the Only One Who doesn’t suck”). Getting to heaven requires we not only adopt (believe in) this as our worldview but also practice daily self-abasement (e.g., Wayne’s World, “we’re not worthy!”) and cessation from anything that might imply we can contribute something to our salvation (e.g., Tim Keller, “we need to repent of our repentance”; Tullian Tchividjian, Jesus Plus Nothing Equals Everything). Why this worldview is unethical: Based on their beliefs, God is the reason we suck. God should therefore be apologizing not rubbing our noses in it. Likewise, Christ should not be viewed as an act of mercy, but the obligation He possess to fix His screw-up.

1.3. Given the apostasy that for some time has characterized all main branches of Christianity, we must reject not only the religion but also the term “Christian” as our identity. New Covenant Judaism is our religion, and “new Jews”, our identity.

2. The worldview taught in the God’s Word and therefore by His religion, New Covenant Judaism, is “This Life Is A Test.”

2.1. God created this world as humanity’s temporary testing site, the place where – based on our life performance, we choose what in the future will serve as our permanent and eternal home. This is the worldview taught in God’s Word and therefore by those following His religion, New Covenant Judaism.

2.2. This worldview (“This Life Is A Test”) therefore possesses two salient points: 1) every single person’s life in this world (every circumstance good or bad) is their personal and particular test (their test-life). 2) God is going to give to every person who has ever lived, what they by their responses to the circumstances of this test-life chose as their future, permanent and eternal version of life (Gal 6:7-8 “what a man sows…” = We – not God, are the ones determining by our choices our eternal home; Jer 17:10 “test the heart…mind” = Our will – the place determining our choices; “according to his ways” = In agreement with his choices).  

2.3. To pass the test that is our life – or be worthy of eternal life with God in the new Creation (the Reboot/new heavens and new earth) (Rev 21-22), a world full of happiness, unending love (or righteousness) - and therefore free from inequity (or wickedness and sin) and unhappiness, requires we - during our test-life, “sow from the Spirit”(Gal 6:8) – i.e., we choose to love all freewill beings (e.g., God and humans) with equity by not only gaining a marriage covenant relationship with His Son Jesus Christ (His love gift to us - 1Jo 4:9) through baptismal rebirth/a vow of faith in His church, but also maintaining that covenant through frequent table observance, faithful obedience to all His laws (Mat 22:37-40 = God’s Law is how we love/show equity to Him and others; Rom 13:8-10) and loyalty to Christ and His covenant family over our blood family for the rest of our life (1Pe 3:21; Gal 3:26-27 [Rom 3:28]//Mat 28:19-20; Phi 2:12, 3:8-16; Jam 2:24//Act 2:42, 46, 20:7; Luk 22:14-23 w/Joh 13:1-20; 1Co 11:23-26//Mat 5:17-20//Mat 10:34-37, 19:29-30; Mar 3:21 w/31-35; Luk 14:25; Joh 13:34-35).

2.4. Those persons who respond to their life in any other way than the aforementioned, are choosing to fail their test (to sow to their flesh- Gal 6:8) and therefore hell as their future, permanent and eternal home, a place of unbridled and unending corruption and destruction (Mar 9:43 “unquenchable fire”; Rev 20:15 “lake of fire”;  Mat 13:42 “in that place there will be weeping” [b/c there is no hope for justice or protection from the corruption and destruction those in hell continue to inflict on one another – Lam 1:2, 16]; “and gnashing of teeth” [a reference to those seeking temporary relief from their guilty conscience through the dehumanizing destruction of others – e.g., rape of enemy soldiers or rape in prison = Most of the time, the act is performed not for sexual pleasure, but sadistic pleasure – or the sense of relief that can result from inflicting pain on others [or seeing others in a situation worse than ours]. The sense of relief the perpetrator experiences is often proportionate to the level of suffering inflicted – making dehumanization [one of the worst forms of suffering] preferrable. This has proven especially true when the victims are viewed as the cause of our pain – e.g., Act 7:54-58. Given therefore sexual assault’s ability to provide the most relief, as well as the fact that those in hell will most likely possess bodies similar to those they chose to love during their test-life, means rape will exist as one of the most popular activities for those in hell).

2.5. The “test” worldview is not only ethical but effective in overcoming the massive inequities of every other worldview:

2.5.1. In relation to the “test” worldview being ethical consider:

1) All morally conscious people know that God exists and they should seek Him (Rom 1:19-20). God promises to lead all those who seek Him to the truth – including the proper worldview and religion (Act 17:27 w/Neh 9:7-8; Isa 55:6; contra Psa 10:4).

2) Faithful obedience to God’s expectations and laws – which is how we love others (i.e., promote and protect equity) is not only achievable in every individual test prescribed by God (Deu 30:11-14; Mat 6:33-34; 1Co 10:13; Mat 6:34) but also not burdensome to those who are reborn, loving God and loving others (1Jo 5:1-3).

3) The only people who will go to hell – the place of corruption and destruction, are those who freely chose it by freely choosing to follow the path of corruption and destruction (the result of following anything other than God’s love and equity) (Rom 1:18-23). Allowing such people to go to the New Creation would also be inequitable to those who suffered/worked hard to pass their tests (1Pe 4:1-2) - as well as dangerous, given their identity as corrupters and destroyers of worlds.

4) God giving to people exactly what their choices deserve - i.e., what they by their responses to their test-life chose to be their future, permanent and eternal life, is the key definer of all equity (Psa 62:12 “lovingkindness” = Equity).

2.5.2. In relation to the “test” worldview overcoming the massive inequities created by every other worldview consider:

1) It is clear that not everybody is given the same opportunities in life or potential to experience and possess the same things. Any worldview therefore that teaches this life is the only place where will we be able to experience the good things of Creation (e.g., Atheism) is inherently inequitable (since some were given more than others).

2) The same is true of any worldview that once more removes us as the ultimate determiners of what we get in the life to come – which includes almost every other religion/worldview that has ever existed (e.g., all the ancient Mesopotamian religions [royalty req’d], Islam [Allah is capricious], Hinduism [caste system], Christianity – especially Calvinistic or its Reformed versions [god chooses his pets based on his own preferences]). Knowing however that this life is simply the test, and that it is my choices – or responses to the test –and not where I start or what I get in this life that determines the kind of life I will possess in eternity means that the test-life of every single human being who has ever lived has always been perfectly equitable. Why? Because the only thing that matters (or determines what we get in our future, permanent and eternal life) is what every human has always had the power to control – their choices/responses. In short, though you cannot pick your test-life (i.e., the circumstances of your life in this world), you do determine your performance on the test and therefore where you will end up in eternity – which means every single situation that a person could end up in this life is completely equitable and fair. As such, people’s condemnation of things like slavery – most especially those who claim to follow God’s Word, reveals a massive level of ignorance. The purpose of our life is not what our American forefathers thought (though they claimed it came from God): to pursue life, liberty and happiness. We are to pursue those things for the next life. And once more, the way we do that is by pursuing God – and passing our test according to His prescription (Mat 6:33). Those who make the pursuit of life, liberty and happiness their focus in this life, forfeit it in the next. In this light consider:

(1Co 7:20-24) PNTM: we are not to view the challenging conditions or circumstances of our life (e.g., slavery) as something unfair or to be avoided (the perspective of the world and what makes us the “slaves of men”), but rather the test that God has “called” us to pass as “Christ’s slave[s]” - as those “bought” by Him for this very purpose – to forget about our status and possessions in this world (the identity of a slave) and instead focus on getting those things in the next life.

(Mat 16:24-27 “deeds”) = Our moral choices are what will determine what we get in the next life – not what we were able to gain in this world. Making the right moral choices in this life – those which “follow” the example and commands of Jesus – the kinds of deeds that will get us to the Reboot, are the kinds of choices that will mean denying self and forfeiting the pursuit of life, liberty and happiness as our focus (“whoever wishes to save his life will lose it…what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world and forfeits his soul?”).

2.6. Ignorance of the “test” worldview is a major reason many people have a hard time accepting hard things in their life - or the lives of their loved ones (e.g., child with cancer; this was the main reason for Job’s confusion and his friends’ bad counsel).  

1. Anyone having children for personal pleasure is treating them like pets and priming them for apostasy.

1.1. One of the most popular reasons people have kids today is because they want to experience heart-warming moments and memories w/them, live vicariously through them and feel some sense of validation or acceptance because of them. Or, if you are too weird and controlling to have real friends, then you have lots of kids whom you force to be your friends and like what you like and do what you do. In either case, these kinds of people are having children for the purpose of serving their selfish personal pleasures.

1.2. This however is not the reason God gave us the ability to have kids - but pets. Pets exist for the purpose of serving our pleasure – but never kids.

1.3. The only reason God wants Christians to become parents is the same reason the military has drill sergeants: to transform those kids into battlefield-ready soldiers fiercely loyal to their commander in chief and ready to give their lives for their comrades and country. In this case, soldiers on the spiritual battlefield, fiercely loyal to the Commander-in-Chief of the armies of heaven, Jesus, ready to give their lives for their comrades (i.e., their covenant brothers and sisters) and His kingdom (or country on earth), the church (1Co 7:26-35). How these verses relate to children: 1) one of the main purposes of getting married is to have children - especially in biblical times when children were vital to a family’s wealth and health (Psa 127:1-5). 2) like Paul’s original audience, we too are living in that period of time just before Christ’s return (them = 60s-70 AD, us = 2025-2030) when it will be exceptionally difficult to be a Christian - and much more, responsible for the souls of others (i.e., a wife or children) (v26 “present distress” = Morality is at an all-time low and persecution of the godly at an all-time high [2Ti 3:1-12]; v28 w/vv32-35) = Wives and children create “trouble” which distracts from the “devotion to the Lord” we must possess to get to heaven. This includes the temptation to focus on pleasing them rather than pleasing the Lord – i.e., establishing one’s home and practice according to His “interests” rather than theirs and the world’s – which will be even more important when the time we possess to get the job done has been “shortened” due to Christ’s imminent return. Hence (vv29-31) = No time to focus on selfish agendas – including those we may possess with respect to a wife or children. IOW: spiritual transformation must not only be the dominant driver in all family time, decisions and planning, but practiced with a sense of urgency (e.g., military boot camp: 8-12 weeks to turn a civilian into a soldier).

1.4. How you know this is your purpose for having kids: 1) your pleasure in having them is directly proportionate to your faithfulness in fulfilling your calling as a parent. 2) your love and joy toward them is based entirely on their performance (Phi 2:2, 16-18, 19-22 [w/1Ti 1:2 w/2Ti 1:2-5]; 2Jo 1:4; The Father’s love for Jesus is based on performance - Joh 10:17).

1.5. Why treating children like pets (i.e., having them for personal pleasure) primes them for apostasy = Your selfishness will not only be the thing they learn most from you but what drives their already selfish hearts further away from loving and serving God. 

2. Our salvation depends on us caring more about the preservation of justice/equity than the preservation of lives -most especially the lives of our apostate children.

2.1. (Deu 16:20) = God demands that we care more about the preservation of justice/equity than the preservation of life.

2.2. (Deu 19:21) = The sign that a Christian cares more about the preservation of justice/equity than the preservation of life is the absence of compassion (“you shall not show pity”) and compromise (“life for life, eye for eye, [etc.,]”) they show toward those guilty of serious crimes (e.g., malicious witness) – which would therefore most certainly include the apostate.

2.3. Why I say our salvation depends on us caring more about justice: because practicing justice/righteousness (i.e., God’s Law – or His laws of equity, laws which create fair treatment for all) is what identifies us as the children of God – as those who love God and others – which are the two greatest commandments (or practices necessary to salvation) ([Matt 22:37-40 w/Rom 13:8-10] w/1Jo 3:7-11; 1Jo 5:1-3).

2.4. Point (then) Not To Miss: God cares (and requires us to care) more about protecting and promoting love for all people (including Himself) than preserving the lives of those who might die in the process (especially those who are apostate and deserve it).

2.5. The only reasons therefore a person would be inclined to generate feelings of compassion or compromise toward the apostate (e.g., crying and expressing pity for them, feeling sorry for them, wanting to relive fond memories of them before they went apostate, or questioning the integrity of God’s words) is they are ignorant of – or don’t care about how unloving, inequitable, ungrateful and utterly treasonous their behavior is to God and others (two examples):

2.5.1. (e.g., unloving) (Heb 10:27-30, [v29] “trampled under foot”) = Idiomatic reference to dehumanization (Psa 56:1), the crime of treating someone as less than human, to take away their human dignity. In this case, the Son of God (their former marriage partner), inferring that the crime of dehumanization was also sexual in nature. “treated as unclean the blood of the [marriage] covenant by which he was sanctified” = Though adultery is a sexual crime that would qualify as treating the marriage covenant and the marital gift of Christ’s justifying blood as “unclean”, it is not by itself a dehumanizing act. The only way Christ could be dehumanized through such adultery is if His body were also somehow involved and violated through the crime. Spousal rape or forcing one’s spouse to function as a prostitute are the types of sexual crimes within marriage that qualify also as dehumanizing acts. Hence the reason the author of Hebrews refers to it as also “insult(ing) (or outraging) the Spirit of grace” versus simply grieving or quenching Him (Eph 4:30; 1Th 5:19).

This is why the author can also speak of those committing so heinous a crime as being worthy of an even “severer punishment” than the apostate of the Old Covenant (those who had “set aside the Law of Moses” -vv28-29).

The Point (then) Not To Miss: those committing apostasy under the NC are viewed by God as forcing Christ (their marital spouse) to be dehumanized through rape or prostitution. What then does that say about our declared love for Christ if we feel any level of sympathy or sorrow toward the apostate – those guilty of dehumanizing Him through rape and prostitution?         

2.5.2. (e.g., inequitable) (“I am remembering/crying/feeling sorry for/desiring the non-apostate child in the past” w/Eze 18:21-24).

2.5.3. (e.g., ungrateful) (Num 11:1-6 [Our past life w/the wicked in Egypt was better than our life w/God now bc of what had to be left behind] w/10 w/16-20) = You ungratefulness reveals your rejection of God. In this light consider the heart of the truly grateful (Mat 13:44-46).

2.5.4. (e.g., utterly treasonous) (2Sa 18:32-19:8) = You commit treason when you cry for the loss of those disloyal but do not/would not shed tears for the loss of those who are loyal. By your tears you demonstrate not only partiality toward your son, but that you value the life of the wicked more than the righteous. The same can be said about parents crying for their apostate children. Why are they not instead shedding tears for Christ – our loyal and righteous God Whose death was wasted by their wicked child? Not only that, but if like David, they express willingness to die for their child (2Sa 18:33 “Would I had died instead of you!”), then are they not also implying that their child is worth more than the death of Christ already given on their behalf? Such actions reveal a level of treason more severe than that of David. 

3. Though viewed as criminal by the world, fierce loyalty to replacing blood children, parents and siblings with spiritual, parents and siblings (i.e., those who do will of God) is imperative to receiving eternal life.

3.1. (Mat 19:29-30 w/Mar 3:21 w/31-35)

3.2. BTW: As Christians, our new spiritual family (the covenant community/church) is the greatest family in all of human history. Consider: 1) Who our God is (the God on top), 2) who are relatives and ancestors are (including Jesus, David, Samuel, Joshua, Moses and Abraham – the greatest warriors, kings and leaders the world has ever known) 3) the great things our people have accomplished (even in the face of incredible adversity [Heb 11:38 “men of whom the world was not worthy”]), 4) the great traditions and stories that have been passed down (we have our own family book where many of them are recorded). 5) the incredible inheritance we have waiting for us (Rom 8:32; Eph 1:18; 1Pe 1:4 w/18).

3.3. Reasons some Christians still desire to be a part of – or loyal to, their crappy and corrupt blood families or family members (including those who are God-haters and/or apostate): 1) they fail see to how great their new family and inheritance really are, 2) they have selfish agendas which can only be fulfilled thru continued connection to blood family (Luk 9:59-62; e.g., status, approval, money), 3) they like the “unconditional love” of their blood family which allows them to continue in sinful practices w/o being judged/getting in trouble, 4) they don’t realize the apostasy they may be committing by their refusal to separate from them (2Jo 1:9-11). 

4. The apostasy of a child, can be the event that locks their parent(s) into the permanency of their own apostasy or the permanency of their own faithfulness.

4.1. We are self-programmed robots = Our interests, preferences, attractions, desires – and ultimately who or what we truly believe and trust are all “programmed by” - or the result of what we are reinforcing through our speech, thoughts, practices or habits (our brain is listening to us more than anyone else). Which means if a parent is continually expressing emotions of pity and love/affection for themselves or the apostate (e.g., being sad rather than mad, crying/mourning over the apostate, crying as a means of feeling sorry for themselves) or using language that is affectionate (e.g., “I miss my little boy”, “I remember when they were so sweet” “I would give my life to have them back”) or calls God’s Word or the church’s judgment into question (“I am confused about Hosea 4:14”) then that person will start to feel confused - and eventually become convinced that the apostate child has been wronged by the church and/or God (“God is a monster”) and will go apostate or cause other children in the home to go apostate who (thru their observance of their parents) lose their faith in God.

4.2. Hence the reason it is more imperative than ever that those parents be practicing trust in the foreign over the familiar – or replacement of what feels familiar with what feels foreign. They need to immediately and permanently replace their former thoughts, memories and feelings of love for that child with what God commands: thoughts of hate and desire for their apostate child’s personal demise (Psa 139:21-24; Psa 69:22-24). Though at first such actions will feel wrong (foreign), our feelings will eventually recalibrate and reinforce our new thinking. Again, we are self-programmed robots. This is what it means to walk by faith and not by sight (2Co 4:18) and (once more) absolutely imperative to protecting ourselves from the permanency of apostasy (from also falling away from our Savior) (Heb 6:6) = Their actions [falling away] has completely corrupted the new creation/spirit given at their baptism w/o the possibility of repair or redemption. IOW: they have spoiled the gift/grace purchased at a heavy price by Christ [crucifixion and open shame] – a price He will not pay again on their behalf – which means they are now permanently locked in apostasy.

4.3. Though suffering the loss of a child in apostasy is an awful thing for a parent to experience, it may not be without its own silver lining. God has been known to use such events to lock His people into another form of permanency, the permanency of faithfulness (Gen 22:1-18 w/Gen 18:19) = The promises spoken to Abe are no longer conditional but guaranteed b/c he has locked himself into a state of faithfulness w/no chance of unfaithfulness/apostasy.

CLOSING CONTEMPLATION: What level of test would you joyfully and eagerly be willing to endure if passing it would lock you into a state a faithfulness that guaranteed both your immunity to future unfaithfulness and your place in heaven?

Preliminary Considerations:

1) What markes understanding the WHY (on this topic) so important?

2) Though apostasy is a loss, we need to be very careful to understand that it is not the loss of a lvoed one. It is a loss of betrayal.

Why People Go Apostate

1 They REFUSE to make God their greatest love. (Lk 14; 1 Pe 1:8; Joh 5:42; Rom 5:1-5)

1.1 Three things that lead to apostasy:

1.1.1 The things of God become foolishness

1.1.2 They don't experience God's guidance in their life.

1.1.3 They possess no emotional motivation or help in their obedience.

2. They REFUSE to trust the foreign over the familiar. (1 Joh 2:15-18)

3) The REFUSE to take seriously the dangers of remaining dumb and discounting sin. (Heb 5:11-6:8; Phi 2:13; Prov 22:3; Phi 1:9; Heb 12:15; Deu 29)

Why do they think this way? They don't believe three things:

1) They don't believe that sin needs to be mastered before it gets big.

2) They don't believe thir sins will end in apostasy.

3) They don't believe God takes their sin that serious.

Closing Contemplation:

If you are not actively/aggressively pursuing God as your greatest love, you are refusing Him. Progress or Regress. Are you ON FIRE for Christ?

Equity = Those principles which establish fair treatment for all free will beings (e.g., Exo 20:1-11; 1Co 6:3; Deu 4:5-8, 6:24)

1) One moral lawgiver and law for all (Isa 33:22; Jam 4:12; Deu 4:2 w/5-8; Num 15:16).

2) Free to choose (not free from consequences, Deu 30:19)

3) Everyone gets what their choices/deeds deserve (Psa 28:4, 62:2; Pro 24:12; Isa 3:10-11; Jer 17:10, 21:14, 32:19; Eze 7:27, 18:14-20 w/25-32, 24:14, 33:20; Mat 16:27; Joh 5:29; Rom 2:6; 2Co 5:10; Rev 2:23, 20:12; 22:12; Consider also Pro 18:26; Luk 16:25; Gal 6:7-10; 2Ti 2:11-13; “what goes around comes around”, “you get what you give”).

4) The punishment will fit the person and the crime (Deu 19:21; Luk 12:47-48).

5) No punishment w/o participation (Eze 18:20).

6) No culpability without ability (Luk 12:47-48; Deu 1:39 w/Jon 4:11; Isa 7:15-16, 8:4).

7) No responsibility without competency (Deu 17:8-9; Mat 18:6-7; Rom 12:3-4; Jam 3:1).

8) No punishment w/o evidence beyond a reasonable doubt (Deu 17:6, 19:15).

9) No permissions or prohibitions allowed that hurt the enforcement of covenants/contracts (Exo 20:1-7 [DMCs], 14 [HMCs], 16 [all HCs]) and the protection of private property (Deu 19:14; Exo 20:8-11 [DPP], 12-13, 15, 17 [HPP]).

10) Justice (equity in action) above all else (Deu 16:20).

Review items:

1. Because we are moral creatures, we tend to give the most trust and loyalty (obedience) to those people and things in our life which we perceive to be the most equitable (e.g., Deontological studies; “Inference and Trustworthiness form Intuitive Moral Judgments” [Journal of Experimental Psychology] = 5 different studies revealed that people whose judgments are based on moral convictions are not only perceived as more trustworthy but preferred as social partners).

2. The authors of the Bible[1] are characterized by zealous trust and obedience to God because they understand His judgments and laws to be perfectly equitable (i.e., they possessed ethical understanding).

1) Notice the zealous (or joyous) trust and/or call to obedience (worship, exaltation) by the Psalmists because of their understanding of God as equitable (Psa 7:1-17, 9:1-10, 11:1-7, 19:8-14, 25:1-3 w/8-10, 37:1-3 w/17w/27-28, 58:1-2 w/6 w/10-11, 62:7-12, 75:1-2, 89:14-5, 96:7-10, 97:1-2 w/8-18, 98:7-9, 99:1-5, 116:5 w/12-14, 119:62-63, 73-75, 105-106, 137-144, 157-160, 161-168). 2) Equity is what is prophesied will cause the Gentiles to trust and obey Jesus (Isa 11:1-5 w/10). Consider also (2Ti 3:16) = Hardly could Paul claim the Scriptures are “profitable for training in righteousness” unless he understood its teachings to be truly equitable.    

3. God testifies that He alone is righteous (equitable) and those who seek Him will not only find this to be true but will (as a result) swear their allegiance (of trust and obedience) to Him (Isa 45:18-24).

4. Realizing their importance to trust and obedience, Satan’s strategy has always been to call into question the equity of God (Gen 3:1 w/4-5; 2Co 2:11).

5. Getting people to zealously trust and obey God has therefore always meant getting people to understand that His judgments and laws are the only things that truly promote and protect equity for all free will beings. (Psa 119:7-8, 34; Ethical understanding [wisdom/knowledge] is the primary kind of understanding/wisdom/knowledge/discernment we are to pursue in relation to God – e.g., Pro 1:1-7 = The Proverbs are for the purpose of ethical understanding in relation to God [vv1-3]. And the first fruit of such a pursuit is “fear of the LORD” or trust in Him [v7 w/3:5 and 7]; Pro 2:1-9).

6. Discovering the equity of God requires we answer the right questions

Example: An unquenchable lake of fire as God’s eternal punishment for the wicked, those whose names are not found in the book of life (Mat 25:46 “eternal punishment”; Mar 9:43-48 “unquenchable fire”; Act 24:15 “resurrection of…the wicked”; Rev 20:15 “not found written in the book of life…lake of fire”).

1st QUESTION: Have we taken the time to sufficiently understand what the Bible teaches about the judgment or law being assessed?

1) The “lake of fire” in (Rev 20:15) is: 1.1.) hell (Mar 9:43, 45, 47). 1.2.) considered a place of eternal punishment given it is one and the same as the “unquenchable fire” or “the fire that is not quenched” mentioned by Jesus in (Mar 9:43-48) and the “eternal punishment” mentioned by Him in (Mat 25:46). 1.3.) a return to the original “earth” - or the dark, fiery, chaotic and lifeless world that God transformed into a stable, ordered and beautiful universe teeming with light and life (Gen 1:1-2) (v2) “the deep…waters” = Deep primordial lake (abyss/pit). God’s first material creation (or “earth”)- which was then used to create our world (vv3-31). “formless and void” (unstable and inept, without order or the ability to create and sustain life – See Fn) “darkness was over the surface of the deep” - or “the deep lake (abyss/pit) was enveloped in darkness” [destruction or desolation at times associated w/fire]. The description of the first earth (Gen 1:2) bears too close a resemblance to the fiery and dark pits [or deep lakes] of Hades and hell to be coincidence (2Pe 2:4 “hell…[fiery] pits [deep lakes] of darkness”).

2) The “book of life” (Rev 20:12, 15) is the registry of not only those who are on their way to the Reboot (Rev 21-22), but gained and maintained a marriage covenant relationship with Jesus during their earthly life (Deu 29:1,9 w/18-20) = Refusing to faithfully obey (v9 w/28:1 = Faithfulness not perfection; v19 “I walk in the stubbornness of my heart” w/Deu 30:10-14 = Disobedience is refusal [rebellion] not failure) the words of God’s marriage covenant (Isa 45:5) would mean the removal of that covenant person’s name (v20 “blot out”; proving the covenant to be conditional – Exo 19:5-6) from the book of the Law (v20 “this book” w/v21) which is one and the same as “the book of the covenant” and the “book of life”(Exo 24:7 w/Neh 8:1; Deu 29:20 w/Rev 3:5 [book of life is the book of the new covenant]) = Given its transcovenantal use, we can safely assume that “book of life” is a registry of all those who were faithful to gain and maintain their respective covenants with God (Adamic, Noahic, Abrahamic, OC, NC) (the OC g&m parallel in the NC: Mat 28:16-20w/Exo 24:1-8 = Like Moses, Jesus ascends the mountain to God [to receive the “authority” of the covenant from “heaven” – or that gets you to heaven] to be gained and maintained by those on “earth” w/the help of His priests [Exo 24:1 w/Mat 28:20]).

3) This understanding in relation to the “book of life” informs us as to its relationship w/the book recording our “deeds” (Rev 20:12): it serves as the evidence of whether or not we possessed covenant fidelity to God during our life (since as discussed this is the only way to reach the Reboot: gain and maintain covenant relationship w/Jesus during your life).

4) As such anyone whose deeds demonstrate they: 4.1.) refused to seek God and enter into a covenant relationship w/Jesus (Rom 1:18-23) or 4.2.) refused to maintain the covenant relationship they did possess w/Jesus are those designated as the resurrected “wicked” (Act 24:15; See also Joh 5:28-29 w/Dan 12:2), one and the same (then) as those whose names are “not found written in the book of life”, those whose reward is eternal punishment in the “the lake of fire” (Rev 20:15).

5) The degree of punishment suffered by those in the “lake of fire” (“hell” – Mar 9:43) will vary based on the degree of wickedness practiced by that person during their earthly life (Mat 11:22, 24; Luk 12:47-48; Heb 10:29; 2Pe 2:20-21).

2nd QUESTION: How does God’s judgment or law meet the definition of equity?

1) Everyone wb judged according to the same lawgiver, law and standard. [#1]

2) Nobody is being charged for something they didn’t freely choose to do (follow or not follow God). [#2]

3) A person who ends up in the lake of fire is getting exactly what they chose as their post-death home when they chose to not seek or follow the God – i.e. to possess a reservation in the book of life. The lake of fire (or hell/original earth) is all that is left once God’s sustaining and life-giving order and power are transported to the Reboot (His private property). [#3, 5]

4) The severity of punishment of those in hell will fit their deeds (crimes) (i.e., everyone will not suffer the same). [#4] 

5) Those unable to make conscious moral choices/commit moral deeds during their life (e.g., babies who die, severely brain damaged – vegetable state people who die) yet not in covenant with God either: 1) go directly to the Reboot because they are viewed as “innocent” (Jon 4:11) or 2) because of the possible stain of original sin (Psa 51:5; Rom 5:19) do not go to the Reboot but also do not suffer in the lake of fire. Rather their spirits perish in death and “Death” will be destroyed (annihilated) in the lake of fire (Job 3:11-13 [Deu 1:39 w/Jon 4:11; Isa 7:15-16, 8:4] w/ Rev 20: 14 “Death and Hades” = “Death” may refer to the place of the those still possessing original sin yet w/no deeds to place them in Hades). Either way, they are not punished for what they did not participate in (Eze 18:32). [#5-7]

6) No one will end up in the lake of fire without a fair trial where their deeds will provide evidence beyond a reasonable doubt that they chose this as their post-death home (i.e., they chose not to follow God). [#8]   

7) Since the Reboot will be eternal and eternally without the corruption of sin, those choosing hell as their future home will also be stuck there eternally since: 1) allowing them to go to the Reboot wb unfair to those who deserved it (Luk 20:35), 2) their presence in the Reboot would corrupt it/destroy equity (i.e., create a repeat of what happened on Earth 1.0.). [#9, 10]

CLOSING CONTEMPLATION: 1) where do pagan babies go who die? 2) how is mercy equitable? 3) how is paying a penalty equitable (Exo 22:1)?

[1] By Bible and Scripture I mean the 66 books recognized by the 4th Century and the Protestant Reformers to be the only precept-infallible writings from God.  

Christian Cognitive Dissonance (CCD) = A feeling of distrust toward God as righteous (just and equitable[1]) that occurs when what the Bible teaches conflicts with a desirable situation (e.g., an attractive female unbeliever expresses interest in dating a single Christian male. The Christian finds himself interested and excited. However, when he finds out that God not only prohibits all sexual activity before marriage, but also requires that we practice endogamy, he begins to question whether God – or His laws are righteous). [2]

1. Why are we talking about this subject? 1) Too many Christians are unaware that they suffer from CCD. 2) CCD ranks among the number one reasons people fail to be faithful and eventually go apostate.

2. Why does CCD hinder our ability to be faithful and avoid apostasy? Because loyalty/faithfulness is always a function of trust. IOW: for human beings to loyal or faithful to something or someone, they must first trust them. No one has ever trusted someone or something they believe is (or might be) unrighteous (unjust, inequitable, NOT FAIR). Why? Because that is our design from God as moral creatures (and something therefore we cannot escape). It is impossible for us to trust something or someone we are not confident is righteous. In summary: loyalty/faithfulness cannot happen where there is distrust.

3. What is the (God designed/designated) purpose of CCD – or the distrust we experience? To alert us to the fact that we are currently operating without what is necessary to be faithful and avoid apostasy – i.e., trust! IOW: that we need to shore up/resolve this “trust deficiency” ASAP before it is too late.

4. What is (therefore) not the purpose of this distrust? To serve as sign (or confirmation) that God and His Word are indeed unrighteous (unjust, inequitable) and you need to run to the world/apostasize ASAP.

5. Why is drawing such conclusions based on a feeling alone irrational (crazy)? Because not only do feelings not think (i.e., they don’t possess any ability to determine what/who is right or wrong, righteous or unrighteous), but they are also inherently selfish. Without the direction provided by learning and understanding, they will only steer us in the direction of what serves our best interest – without any consideration of others (equity) (e.g., animals – 2Pe 2:12).

6. What are the sure-fire signs/symptoms that a person is struggling with CCD? 1) anxiety or depression that won’t go -or stay away[3], 2) lack of zeal for God and the things of God (e.g., the necessity of salespeople believing in the product they are selling).

7. What is the cure for CCD or the deficiency of trust we feel in relation to God and His laws? Possessing not only knowledge of God and His laws but ethical[4]  understanding- i.e., we need to also possess the understanding that God and His laws are not only righteous (promoting and protecting justice and equity for all creatures – true freedom and happiness for human society) – but exist as the only ethical standard that can produce such things . IOW: Human flourishing can only happen if we follow God and His laws. There is no other way. The laws created by humans are not a viable alternative to the laws of God. They cannot produce human flourishing (justice, equity, freedom and happiness for everyone). They instead can only produce what -in the end, will hurt human society - or take away the freedom and happiness of others. If (then) we are going to cure our CCD (and secure the ability to be faithful and avoid apostasy - not matter the situation), then this is what we MUST become convinced of – which means we need to be committed to always finding the answer to this question, “Why is what God does or says the only thing that will promote and protect what is fair for everyone (that will produce human flourishing [justice, equity, freedom and happiness)?” This is how you sb reading your Bible and what you sb spending your time pondering. Once more, knowledge of God and His laws is not enough. It is not enough to produce the trust necessary to lasting loyalty or faithfulness – or obedience when it is no longer convenient.

7.1. Eve presents the perfect example of this very problem. She possessed the knowledge of God’s laws (Gen 3:2-3), but not the ethical understanding. As a result, she became easy prey to distrust (which Satan exploited – vv4-5) and the temptation to sin.

7.2. Asaph acknowledges how close he came to apostasy - as well as the deliverance that ensued once he stopped trying to understand God’s dealing with the wicked by his flesh/feelings and started seeking ethical understanding from God’s Word (Psa 73:1-22) [v17] “Until I came into the sanctuary of God” = The primary home of Scripture before the invention of the printing press. “Then I perceived their end. Surely you have set them on slippery places” = The wicked are getting away with nothing. “You cast them down to destruction…[and] when one [the wicked] awakes [on the other-side before God]…you [God] will despise [treat of no value] their form [their phantom/spirit in the afterlife].” = IOW: God will respond to them the way they responded to Him during their life (equity).

7.3. King David knew ethical understanding was the key to trusting and obeying God and therefore prays for it in (Psa 119:34) “give me understanding” = Help me to comprehend how your laws are righteous (promote and protect justice and equity for humanity). “that I may observe your law and keep it with all of my heart” = That I may be faithful to obey it with full commitment (or trust) (contra 2Ch 25:2). PNTM: Trust and obedience to Gods laws require ethical understanding.

7.4. The causal relationship that exists between ethical understanding and trust/obedience is also why Paul prays the way he does in (Col 1:9-10).

7.5. Peter uses the ethical understanding  already possessed by his audience to motivate them to continued faithfulness and study of God’s Word (1Pe 2:1-3) “If you have tasted the kindness [the moral consideration; Psa 34:8] of the Lord [on you behalf]” = If you have come to an ethical understanding  of God and His laws – if you have experienced that He is indeed righteous (then “grow in respect to your salvation” by putting aside “all malice…deceit…hypocrisy [etc.,]” and “long[ing] for the pure milk of the word.”). PTNM: the trust we gain through ethical understanding is not only the key to faithfulness but to “long[ing] and “grow[ing]” in our study of God’s Word.

7.6. Additional support:

1) (Pro 3:5-7 “trust in the LORD” = “fear the LORD”) w/(Pro 1:7 “fear of” [trust in] the LORD is the beginning of knowledge [understanding]”) = Trust in what the LORD (says) is the beginning (or first result) of possessing understanding --OR trust only starts (or happens) where there is ethical understanding (understanding that God and His laws are righteous [just, equitable]).

2) (Pro 1:1-3) = Notice the kind of understanding (“wisdom…understanding” etc.,) God intends to communicate through Solomon’s Proverbs, is the kind related to “righteousness, justice and equity” – which means this is also what the Proverbs are talking about when calling for us to “acquire wisdom [and] understanding” (e.g., Pro 4:5) = Acquire ethical understanding [in relation to the righteousness, justice and equity of God and His laws]!”[5]

3) (Deu 4:5-8) [v6] “so keep and do [God’s commands] for that is [the indication] of your wisdom and understanding” - i.e., the indication that you understand God’s laws to be righteous. What (then) Moses is saying: Your obedience to God indicates to the nations that you understand His laws to be righteous. Hence the reason the “peoples” (other nations) will proclaim that very thing [vv6-7]“a god so near to it” = A righteous God Whose righteous laws reflect His intimate concern and care for the well-being of His creatures [v8“statutes and judgments as righteous as this whole law”]. [6]

4) (Jer 9:23-24) = Our boasting in this life is to be in relation to understanding (knowing) God. Notice however that the understanding God demands that we possess is not ontological (understanding as it relates to His existence or attributes) but rather moral – or ethical, that we understand Him to be a God who “exercises” and “delights” in “lovingkindess” (i.e., covenant fidelity - trustworthiness), justice and righteousness.” IOW: God wants our confidence or trust (our “boast” in this life) to come from ethical understanding -meaning we have taken the time to see how what He does and says is truly righteous.

5) (Pro 7:1-15) “naïve” = Simple, open-minded – i.e., you are open to other answers/explanations because you haven’t taken the time to see how stupid and unrighteous those other answers/explanations really are. Notice the author is identifying a deficiency in ethical understanding as the key reason for this man’s sexual immorality/adultery [v7 “lacking sense”] = Lacking ethical understanding/understanding as to the righteousness, justice and equity of God’s laws w/regard to sexual activity.

6) (Mar 12:30-33) = “love” (i.e., loyalty/faithful obedience) which includes (or requires) all of our “mind” which means “understanding” (v30 w/33). Once more, faithful obedience is demonstrated to be dependent upon our ethical understanding, our comprehension (ability to see) God and His laws as righteous (just and equitable).

7.7. Finally, as an example of the boost in trust that is created when we ethically understand (comprehend the righteousness, justice, equity of) God and His laws, consider (Gen 2:16-17) = The prohibition in relation to the tree was meant to teach them that good and evil were things to be learned from God versus determined by humans. Hence the name, “the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.” It was therefore also meant to communicate that God was not making them responsible (or culpable) for what they could not do (accurately determine what is good and what is evil) given their disability in discernment (not always able to see the true value of things). God was (then) thru this prohibition, protecting them and human society from destroying themselves (Deu 6:24) = “Survival” can’t happen if people are harming one another, if society is filled with inequity and injustice. Prohibiting ourselves from determining our own laws and instead adopting (and trusting) God’s laws would make sure such harm was avoided (that true freedom and happiness in human society [human flourishing] would exist for everyone). Hence why God gave this command to Israel’s kings (Deu 17:18-24 “that his heart may not be lifted up above his countrymen” = That he may not take advantage of them thru establishing his own laws – laws which will inevitably be self-serving [unjust, inequitable]).

CLOSING CONTEMPLATION: 1) According to 2Th 2:10-12 and Eph 4:17-19, why will some people continue in their CCD and eventually go apostate (follow the deception of Satan)? 2) Based on what we have seen from God’s Word, what is wrong with this statement, "The Greeks learned in order to comprehend. The Hebrews learned in order to révere." (M. Wilson, Our Father Abraham)? 3) How does today’s teaching on ethical understanding change the way you understand the parental instruction of Deu 6:5-9 and Eph 6:4? 4) Read Deu 4:2 and seek to ethically understand the command. IOW: why is the prohibition against adding or taking away from God’s commands righteous (just, equitable)? How does your understanding of Gen 2:16-17 help in figuring out the answer? 5) Read Mat 16:24-25 and seek to ethically understand Jesus’ requirement. What makes it righteous (just, equitable)? How do Gen 2:16-17 and Phi 2:1-5 help us in figuring out the answer? 6) Read Mat 4:1-10. What evidence of ethical understanding can be gleaned from Jesus’ responses to Satan’s temptations? 7) Endogamy and no sexual activity before marriage are God’s prescription (Deu 7:1-3; Ezr 9:1-4, 10:1-3; Neh 13:23-27; 1Co 7:1-2, 39; 2Co 6:14). What makes it righteous (just, equitable)? 8) God has determined that a lake of fire will be the eternal home of most people (Luk 13:22-24; Rev 20:11-15). Why is that righteous (just, equitable)? 

[1] Righteous = The state of being just or practicing justice; Justice = Equity in action; Equity = FAIR, impartial, unbiased; rules that do no harm to God or others (the true meaning of love - Rom 13:8-10); everyone getting exactly what they deserve (Psa 28:4, 62:2; Pro 24:12; Isa 3:10-11; Jer 17:10, 21:14, 32:19; Eze 7:27; Mat 16:27; Joh 5:29; Rom 2:6; 2Co 5:10; Rev 2:23, 20:12; 22:12).

[2] Christian Cognitive Dissonance and its definition are meant as a derivation of the existing term, cognitive dissonance (def.,) = The feelings of discomfort that occur when you realize that the group your belong to is in conflict with your current beliefs, practice or situation.   

[3] There are other forms of anxiety and depression which are not related to CCD and therefore do not require its removal for relief (e.g., Phi 4:6-7). As such, another good sign that your anxiety or depression may be CCD is the fact that the other biblical prescriptions for solving such tensions are not working.

[4] Ethical (def.,) = Related to moral principles (righteousness, justice, equity).

[5] The focus btw of entire Bible (not just the Proverbs) is ethical. It is a book which attempts to teach – through its very selective choice of subjects and stories, God’s system of ethics (righteousness, justice, equity).

[6] One of the greatest proofs that our God (Yhwh) is the true God of heaven and earth, is His care and concern for righteousness (justice, equity) with respect to Himself and His creatures. No other god in the entirety of human history’s multitude of religions possess such a concern or make such an invitation. “The Hebrew God was unique [in that] He was reliable and just in His responses to His people. Hence, His ordinances of law were for the common human good. Nowhere else in the ancient Near East was there so systematic an appropriation of the concept of lawful, contractual obligation to express the relationship between a whole people and their god and consequently to define morality within society [than the covenants] God used to establish relationship with His people.” – Alan F. Segal (Rebecca’s Children: Judaism and Christianity in the Roman World)

Why study Satan? 1) The Bible identifies Satan as public enemy #1, the greatest adversary (Heb., Satan = Adversary) of all sentient beings – including God. To fight him we need to know him[1] (2Co 2:11).[2] The following profile is based on the conclusions that may be drawn about Satan when considering the teachings of Scripture and traditions of the Ancient Near East (ANE).

Distilling what we have learned from studying Satan with some additional conjecture for good measure:

1. Satan’s big reveal: Shortly before Jesus’ return, Satan is going to appear in human form and  convince the entire world to unite under his leadership and go to war against Yhwh and the last small vestige of Christ’s churches and devout Jews in Jerusalem that still exist and stand against him (Rev 20:3 [“short time”]w/7-9a “nations which are in the four corners of the earth” = Every nation on earth; “God and Magog” w/Eze 37-39 = The biblical symbol of a world led by one leader and the majority united in fulfilling his evil agenda; “the number of them is like the sand of the seashore” = Vast majority of the population will follow Satan; “surrounded” = Implies these groups are not spread out or numerous, but rather limited in location and small in number; able to easily be contained and captured; “the camp of the saints” = Christ’s churches; “the beloved city” = Devout Jews in Jerusalem crying out to God/sacrificing red heifers to purify themselves for Messiah’s return who will repent and be saved the moment Jesus lands on the Mt. of Olives – Rom 11:25-28 “The Deliverer will come from Zion, He will remove ungodliness from Jacob” = Seeing Jesus wb their salvation [Rev 1:7]; “they are enemies for your sake” = They will not listen to Christians [FAG has ruined our witness to them]).

2. Satan’s ability: There are three reasons Satan will be able to “deceive the nations” and unite them in a global war against Yhwh:

2.1. The apostasy of the New Covenant Church = Over the course of human history God has employed various corrective measures to restrain (slow down, push back, limit) the moral corruption and spiritual darkness continually infecting and progressively destroying the “code of Creation” (what God used to create the material world – Gen 1:3,6, 9, 11, 14, 20, 24, 26 “Then God said”) – which includes the invisible, dimensional barrier separating our world from the heavenly realm above (Gen 28:12; Act 1:9-11; Eph 4:8).[3] Among these was the establishment of covenant communities (churches) with codified law, a consecrated people and an empowered priesthood. Though a vast improvement on the original design, the New Covenant community/Church – like her predecessor, was not perfect. As a result, she too would eventually succumb to her self-inflicted wounds of gospel and moral compromise, forfeiting not only God’s presence and power among her, but her ability to act as salt and light in the world. Such loss of restraint would mean those spiritual gates once locked were now open and those behind them once more free to exercise the full range of their evil powers – including the use of those communities (now apostate) for their own purposes (2Th 2:1-9 “apostasy comes first, then the man of lawlessness is revealed/released…you know what restrains him now” = God’s CC not going apostate):

1) >70 AD = OCC is apostate (Eph 6:11-12 w/Rev 2:9, 18:2) w/the NCC on the brink of apostasy (5 of the 7 churches in Rev 2-3) leads to Satan’s release (Rev 12-13).

2) >2030 AD = NCC is apostate leading once more to the restraints being removed/to Satan’s release (Mat 16:18-19 w/Mat 12:22-29 w/Joh 12:31 w/Luk 10:17-18 w/Rev 2:5 w/Rev 20:3,7 [“thousand years = The complete time the church remains faithful and therefore able to restrain Satan/keep the gates of Hades closed after being put there by Jesus]).

2.2. The power of pseudo-incarnation/body-snatching (2Th 2:8 [2Th 1:7-9 w/Isa 11:1-4, 66:15-16] w/Rev 20:9; Rev 13:1-2 w/Rev 17:8), miracles of healing and advanced tech (2Th 2:9 “all [every kind of] power [e.g., high-tech weapons, UFOs, telepathically/spirit/demon controlled drones] and signs [attesting miracles; e.g., healing of all diseases, granting of superhuman health and abilities] and false wonders” [eye candy; e.g., everything wb tune to not only entertain us but convince us that we can break through the weakened dimensional barrier and make an attack on heaven/God’s throne - Rev 20:9 “they came up on the broad plain” = An allusion to Gen 11:1-8 [“they found a plain in the land of Shinar”] = God’s corrective measure is not to tear down the tower but disrupt their ability for global communication and unification – which He states will give them the power to eventually do what they are attempting [break thru into heaven and make an attack on His throne]; v6).[4]     

2.3. His prior success in indoctrinating the world in his “anti-God, self-love, live by your flesh” religion = Such success is due not only to the amount of time (Job 38:4-7 = Almost 6k years) and travel speeds Satan has possessed to push his propaganda (Eph 2:1-2 “prince of the power of the air” w/Isa 6:2 w/Job 1:7, 2:2) but also his knowledge of our Achilles’ heel – our test given to us at Creation, which he immediately exploited with our first mother (Gen 3:1-5) = What makes this life a test is not that God prohibits certain things that our flesh wants to do, but that our flesh wants to do them only because we cannot see their true value (how undesirable, harmful and horrible they really are). Though our flesh (our five senses) are unreliable when it comes to moral decisions, what we feel (the signal they send) is often the opposite. IOW: our flesh gives to us the feeling that we should trust our senses alone. As a result, we naturally trend in the direction of our flesh – trusting it more than God’s laws – even when we have put them to memory (Gen 2:2-3).

Satan knew this and exploited it with Eve the same way he has been exploiting it w/us for ~ 6k yrs. How Satan exploited this w/Eve: 1) By causing her to feel distrust for God; that His laws may be unjust (“You surely will not die!”). 2) By causing her to feel love for self and confidence in self over God; that she deserves to be god and has the right to determine right and wrong for herself (“you will be like God knowing good and evil”). That Eve took the bait is made clear by how the text reveals she made her decision (“when the woman saw that the tree was good…desirable to the eyes”) = IOW: She decided in accord with her flesh/senses or feelings were telling her (which is insanity given our feelings don’t think). Psychologists, the most popular spiritual practitioners of our day, proves that Satan has indeed been successful in indoctrinating the world in his anti-God, self-love, live by your feelings (or morality determined by our flesh) religion.   

3. Temptation to apostasize: Scripture predicts that the aforementioned three things will mean that the temptation to apostasize at the time of Satan’s big reveal will be so strong that: 1) We should expect that a number of us will fall away (Mat 24:10; 2Th 2:9-15) = Paul’s parting admonishment to the Thessalonian church [“So then, brethren, stand firm…”] reveals they were not immune to Satan’s deception. 2) If the time from Satan’s reveal and Jesus’ return were not short, all Christians would eventually fall away (Mat 24:22).

4. A possible picture of what Satan’s big reveal (and message to humanity) may look like: Satan shows up in human flesh, with lots of UFOs, super advanced tech and proves he can heal every disease and grant superhuman health and abilities to every human if they will follow him in fighting against the evil Yhwh Who only retains the title “God” because He controls the “God particle” to create. Taking His throne would mean we could not only use it make our world better – but bring back our dead loved ones (we could re-incarnate them with new bodies). Yhwh - Satan claims, is just another angel (like him). He is not uncreated and infinite, which means He can be defeated. All of this (of course) means that Yhwh is also a liar – and His book the Bible, a book of lies. Yhwh uses it to control people – to brainwash them into believing in His religion of fear and hate. We don’t need atonement or to feel guilty about our sin. What we need is unconditional love and the freedom to live the way we feel is best – to follow our hearts without consequences or the threat of punishment. Why does everything have to be “His way or hell?” Why does His way have to be the only way? As long as my choices don’t hurt others, then I should be able to do what I want. We all deserve to be happy according to our preferences (rather than forced to follow His). This is most especially true when it comes to our love for others. Why does a (so-called) loving God condemn people if who they choose to love – or have sex with, is not on His approved list? How can love ever be wrong? Yhwh’s rules destroy families and are the number one reason human beings mistreat each other. Yhwh is the inventor of racism (He loves Jews more than anyone else) – and slavery (the Bible condones it). These (then) are the reasons Satan has been fighting Yhwh. Satan believes all people should be truly free. We should have the freedom to love and live according to what makes us happy – without (once more) being condemned for our choices. That (again) is what he and his fellow angels have been fighting for (from the beginning). And because Yhwh doesn’t want to lose control, they have been slandered as the bad guys and kept away from humanity so that they wouldn’t find out the truth. But now the truth is out, and Satan needs our help to see that we don’t go back under Yhwh’s evil thumb. Satan needs our help to defeat Him and free all of us (him, his angels and humanity) before He destroys our precious world (something he also shares is coming within a matter of a few years). Join him (however) and we (together) can use Satan’s tech and power to rush into heaven, defeat Yhwh, get the “God particle” and save not only our world and dead loved ones, but live forever. As his final point to ponder, he leaves you with this, “Why are you choosing to trust Yhwh Who doesn’t care enough about you to ever show up? At least I showed up (and would have sooner had He not taken away my ability to do so). Why trust the One you can’t see – or won’t show up, versus the one who is already here and making good on his promises?”

5. Who Satan’s message will appeal to: 1) Those not practicing faithful obedience to God – especially when under pressure (i.e. living a double life). 2) Those who cannot demonstrate why Satan is wrong or lying.

CLOSING CONTEMPLATION: 1) How are you going to discern whose right and telling the truth (Satan or Yhwh)? 2) What makes Gen 2:16-17 just or fair? 3) Why is the worldly view of love (as unconditional – not based on performance) unjust and unfair? 4) Besides the covenant community, what other corrective measures has God employed to keep the possibility of salvation alive for the entire 6k years appointed for this world? 5) Why is Satan so concerned with destroying the church and the devout Jews? 6) We should we as Christians be pursuing to overcome the power of our flesh and ensure we don’t  apostasize at Satan’s big reveal? 7) How might what we find in Luke 16:19-31 explain why Satan must go through our world to gain access to the heavenly realm? 8) What will Satan be saying to recruit/conscript those who went apostate from our church – yet still believe they are Christians?

[1] “If you know the enemy and you know yourself, you need not fear the result of a hundred battles. If you know yourself, but not the enemy, for every victory gained you will also suffer a defeat…The opportunity for defeating the enemy is provided by [knowing] the enemy himself…Force him to reveal himself, so as to find his vulnerable spots.” – Sun Tzu (The Art of War)

[2] “Trying to grasp the darkest of the dark and understand it is a way to ensure we never become it (or its victim)…You don’t want to be fooled; you don’t want to become a victim, so what can you learn to avoid it." – Anne Burgess (criminal forensics nurse, founder of the FBI’s criminal profiling program; agent responsible for the capture of America’s most notorious serial killers).

[3] There is no barrier between Hades/Sheol and our world. One is superimposed on the other with immaterial beings traveling (e.g., spirits, demons) through the same geographic space as us in the physical/material world. The only exception would be those “no fly zones” or restricted areas (e.g., sacred areas/heavenly outposts or demonic strongholds) (e.g., Dan 10:13).

[4] It is reasonable to think that Satan has been sharing his historical developments in tech with us (e.g. cellular communication, computers and internet, AI, robotics, etc.) understanding that this would better serve his end game agenda of uniting our forces with his (See 1 Enoch; Consider also Isa 28:24-26).

Why study Satan? 1) The Bible identifies Satan as public enemy #1, the greatest adversary (Heb., Satan = Adversary) of all sentient beings – including God. To fight him we need to know him[1] (2Co 2:11).[2] The following profile is based on the conclusions that may be drawn about Satan when considering the teachings of Scripture and traditions of the Ancient Near East (ANE).

CREATION AND PRE-CRIME CAREER

1. Satan was a high ranking, highly elite throne-guardian angel who looks like a fiery winged serpent or dragon and existed as one of several types of elohim created not only before human beings but the construction of our entire universe.

CRIMES AND PENALTIES

2. Satan sparked an insurrection not only against God but His high priest Adam, convincing a third of the angel population to follow him in his rebellion.

3. The initial punishments suffered by Satan for his double insurrection were threefold: 1) loss of position [as throne guardian], 2) loss of physical form in this world [as a glorious dragon], 3) imprisoned in Hades [lowest, darkest, most desolate and fiery portion of Sheol]. Satan was reduced to a groveling amputee who now works as the night manager at the hotel Hades. That said, Satan retains command of a large demonic army with access to our world.

4. For almost six thousand years, Satan has been using his access to our world and the power of Sheol to reduce God’s army while increasing his own.[3]

5. Christ’s first return resulted in Satan being unable to use his newly discovered power of pseudo-incarnation or “body-snatching” for the entirety of the Church Age.

5.1. Christ’s first return: The spiritual return of Jesus (Rev 1:7 [e.g., Isa 19:1]) in 70 AD to judge: 1) unfaithful OC Israel thru divorce and the destruction of God’s house (Mat 23:37-24:3 w/15 [the destruction of the temple] w/34; Rev 5:1-5 w/chs 6-11 [11:1-2 w/15]). 2) those involved with the Jews in persecuting Jesus’ new (covenant) people thru the downfall of Satan (“the dragon”), the Roman Caesar Nero, (“the beast”) and the Jewish priesthood (“false prophet”) (Rev 13:1-18).

5.2. (Satan’s) newly discovered power of pseudo-incarnation or “body snatching” (def., the spirit of the host person is replaced by Satan’s spirit – allowing for complete integration with their body, and uninhibited expression of his personality and powers)[4]: As discussed, Satan was forced to shed his skin in this world at the time of his initial “grand insurrection” (insurrection against God and His sacred human authorities). Since then, he has been seeking a way to re-incarnate himself.[5] It isn’t until the time of Christ that we find Scriptural evidence of Satan possessing this ability suggesting he was unable to do so before this time. Hence the reason for referring to it as “newly discovered” (e.g., Rev 13:1-2 “the dragon standing on the seashore” = Satan [Rev 12:9];  “[the] beast coming out of the sea” = Nero Caesar, Roman king living in the first century;[6] “And the dragon gave him his power and his throne and great authority”) = A statement describing what happens when there is the passing of the mantle between outgoing and incoming kings or national leaders (e.g., recent transfer of the president’s power, throne and authority from Joe Biden to Donald Trump). In this case, from Satan to Nero (Rev 13: 4 “his authority”). That being said, there is more going on in these verses than a simple a transfer of power (etc.,). It implies also the replacement of Nero’s spirit with the spirit of Satan; that the true person of Nero, no longer exists (is dead and in the “lake of fire” – Rev 19:20), his body-snatched and identity assumed by an imposter. This then is the real reason the person who appears to be Nero can also be said to possess Satan’s supernatural power (etc.,). The transfer of power included also a transfer of person. Satan had pseudo-incarnated himself in the body of Nero. Proof that Satan pseudo-incarnated himself in the body of Nero – versus simply transferring his power (etc.) or possessing him:

1) (Rev 13:1 “coming up out of [Grk., anabaino] the sea”) = A reference to Nero’s earthly place of origin, Rome[7] before the transfer (v2b) versus Nero’s place of origin after the transfer (Rev 17:8 “come up out of [Grk., anabaino] the abyss”) = The beast/Nero’s place of origin has changed from this world to the underworld. The body of Nero is no longer inhabited by the person from Rome, but the prince of the abyss (Rev 9:11).[8]

2) (Rev 13:4 “they worshipped the dragon”) = A reference to the Jews who were not only in approval but instigating Nero’s blasphemy against Jesus and empire wide persecution of Christians (5-8 “all who dwell in the land [Grk., epi teis geis = Israel] = Satan’s 2nd “grand insurrection”).[9] How then did the Jews worship Satan (“the dragon”)? By their worship of Nero indicating once again, that the switch has taken place. Satan (“the dragon”) is now Nero.

3) (2Th 2:1-9) = Consistent with other biblical prophecy, many of details discussed by Paul in 2Thessalonians 2 will experience dual fulfillment – or are applicable to both Christ’s first return (in 70 AD) – as well as His second or final return (in 2030 AD). This includes the references to pseudo-incarnation or body-snatching by Satan. For example: (3.1.) (v9) “the one [the “man of lawlessness”-v3] whose coming [or return -Grk., parousia] is in accord with the activity of Satan” = Literally, “activity confirming [him] to be Satan.” The word translated “activity” [Grk., energia] not only reinforces this understanding but echoes the gist of John’s words in (Rev 13:2b). Per Strong’s, “this word is used only for superhuman power whether God or the devil.” (3.2.) (v8) = The “lawless one” of 2Thessalonians 2 – who is destroyed by fire from heaven at the Lord’s return is - according (again) to verse 3, a human being (“man of lawlessness”). Yet in its future parallel, Satan is the main antagonist suffering this fiery fate, the same person bound in the abyss for a thousand years (Rev 20:7-9). How do you make sense of that? How can this person be identified as human and yet also as Satan? Like first century Nero, this future man of lawlessness (or antichrist) will only be human in respect to physical form. The spirit of that man will (however) be gone, replaced by the spirit of the devil which means the identity of that person has also changed. It is no longer that man, but Satan who has snatched his body and now wears it as his own.

5.3. What is the relevance or importance of this power (the power of pseudo-incarnation or body-snatching)? As discussed, this ability allows Satan to display (in our world) the full range of his supernatural abilities with in turn also allows him to “deceive the nations” into following him as their god in a global war against God’s people (first attempt: Rev 13:7; second attempt: Rev 20:7).[10] This is why then after his first attempt (in the first century), such power was temporarily placed in shackles.

5.4. unable to use (his…power of pseudo-incarnation or “body snatching”): (Rev 20:1-3) “[with] a great chain…laid hold of the dragon…and bound him…and threw him into the abyss, and shut it and sealed it over him, so that he would not deceive the nations”) = John’s vision of Satan being placed under heavy restraint communicated two things to the first century church: 1) justice would finally being served for Satan’s war crimes against her (Rev 6:9-11), 2) it would be a very long time before Satan could again exercise such power of deceit. His ability to reincarnate himself - and subsequent uniting of the nations that would follow, had been completely neutralized for “one thousand years.”

5.5. Why can we be confident that this is the only power Satan forfeited at this time (70 AD)? IOW: that being bound in the abyss doesn’t refer to a temporary loss of all access and ability (e.g., satanic suggestion and possession, satanic influence or affliction)? Because if that were the case: 1) church discipline, its potential for reform/salvation is greatly inhibited (1Co 5:5 = Satan is the danger creating desperation; Pro 16:4). 2) Peter has lied (2Pe 1:3; the church has no direction w/respect to the excommunicated).      

5.6. for the entirety of the Church Age: (Rev 20:2-3 “a thousand years”) = The popular opinion among many scholars is that the phrase “a thousand years” is - like the restraining elements of John’s vision, to be understood symbolically rather than literally. As such what is being communicated is a very long yet undisclosed amount time – or time enough for the fledging NT church and her gospel to reach the world, before that world is once more turned against her (Rev 20:7 = Satan’s third and final “grand insurrection”). This understanding of Rev 20:2-3 is known as the “Church Age view.”

5.7. Why can we be confident that this is what is being communicated by the phrase “a thousand years”? 1) Large numbers related to 10 and 12 used as figures of speech or as a part of Apocalyptic literature tend to always be symbolic (Exo 20:6; Deu 1:11, 7:9; Psa 50:10, 68:17, 84:10; Rev 7:4).[11] 2) the time allotted for Satan’s third and final grand insurrection is incredibly short (Rev 20:3 “for a short time” [Grk., mikros = Very small – e.g., Mar 4:31]). 3) Zombies don’t exist (Rev 20:4-5) = If it were a literal thousand years, then the “rest of the dead” (i.e., those not part of the “first resurrection” or those who died during the Neronic persecution now in heaven reigning with Christ because of his redemptive victory [“those who had been beheaded…who had not worshiped the beast”]) would have started coming out of their graves in 1070 AD.[12] 

5.8. Understanding “a thousand years” as the Church Age (versus a literal one thousand years) lends additional support to the phrase “deceive the nations” being a reference to Satan’s pseudo-incarnation since how else in such a short amount of time could he accomplish such a mission (unless once more) he possesses this supernatural ability with which to captivate -and capture, the world)?

5.9. Why should we be confident that we are no longer in the Church Age and Satan has been released? 1) this world has reached its shelf life (we are almost at year 6,000). 2) the church has reached its shelf life (sin has corrupted the majority of so-called Christian churches, leaving the vast majority apostate (2Th 2:3 “the apostasy first”; Mat 24:9-12) = Apostasy of the church is the sign.

[1] “If you know the enemy and you know yourself, you need not fear the result of a hundred battles. If you know yourself, but not the enemy, for every victory gained you will also suffer a defeat…The opportunity for defeating the enemy is provided by [knowing] the enemy himself…Force him to reveal himself, so as to find his vulnerable spots.” – Sun Tzu (The Art of War)

[2] “Trying to grasp the darkest of the dark and understand it is a way to ensure we never become it (or its victim)…You don’t want to be fooled; you don’t want to become a victim, so what can you learn to avoid it." – Anne Burgess (criminal forensics nurse, founder of the FBI’s criminal profiling program; agent responsible for the capture of America’s most notorious serial killers).

[3] Satan operates under the delusion that if he can substantially reduce God’s army while also increasing the number of his, he can successfully beat Christ at His return in the 7th millennium (Rev 12:12 “the devil has great wrath…knowing that he has only a short time” = Satan is aware of the designated timeframe of God’s test).

[4] How is this different from demon possession? Though under the control of the demonic entity, the possessed person’s spirit remains intact making integration impossible. General revelation teaches us that only one spirit can be integrated – or physiologically and psychologically connected to a physical body at a time. As such, the demon will always be recognized as a foreign and unwanted entity by the possessed person’s brain and body. Something that needs to be removed (or exorcised). With incarnation, this conflict is resolved. It is however the spirit of the person that is exorcised or removed rather than the demon. Satan (the demon capable of such power) seamlessly and simultaneously replaces their spirit with his allowing for complete integration - or no conflict with the host brain and body.

[5] Seeing that Satan was at one time incarnate, to assume again physical flesh is technically, reincarnation – though not in the traditional sense. Satan is not reborn (the traditional view) but rather stealing the body of someone already in existence. Hence my reason for referring to it as pseudo-incarnation or body snatching.

[6] See The Beast by Kenneth Gentry

[7] “For the populations of the Middle East in the first century, the sea is what lies between them and Rome.” – Pierre Prigent (Commentary on the Apocalypse of St. John)

[8] For those wondering how to reconcile the fact that John speaks of the beast’s origins as the abyss much earlier in the book (11:7), the answer becomes obvious once one considers that chapter 11 represents the end of the first of John’s two concentric circles in the book. From a chronological perspective, this means what is communicated in chapter 11 finds its recapitulated parallel in Revelation’s later chapters (16-19).

[9] See Kenneth L. Gentry Jr., The Divorce Of Israel

[10] “He (Beliar or Satan) will descend from his firmament in the form of a man.” – Matrydom and Ascension of Isaiah

[11] What makes Revelation challenging is determining what should be taken symbolically and what should be taken literally. As a possible help on this issue, Apocalyptic scholar J. Stuart Russel points out that, “When we have high numbers stated…they are usually, if not invariably, to be understood indefinitely.” (The Parousia: A Study of the New Testament Doctrine of Our Lord’s Second Coming).

[12] The same question might be asked in relation to the Church Age view. Why – assuming we are no longer in this period of time (i.e., Satan has been released) do we not see the dead being resurrected? The answer is, “We soon will.” The time span from Satan’s release to his final defeat and Judgment Day – the day of this “general resurrection is (once more) very short” (Rev 20:9-13).

Why study Satan? 1) The Bible identifies Satan as public enemy #1, the greatest adversary (Heb., Satan = Adversary) of all sentient beings – including God. To fight him we need to know him[1] (2Co 2:11 = Paul’s use of the plural personal pronoun [“we”] when claiming they were “not ignorant” of Satan’s “schemes” implies that he and his pastoral team -and possibly those in the Corinthian church, had received in-depth teaching on Satan’s profile).[2] 2) Satan is no longer incarcerated and mounting a global misinformation/hate campaign against the last vestige of God’s people on earth (Rev 20:1-9). Our ability to prepare ourselves through its identification also demands we endeavor to possess an accurate and thorough profile of his person and history (1Th 2:14-18 w/3:1-4 = Endurance thru diagnosis). The following profile is based on the conclusions that may be drawn about Satan when considering the teachings of Scripture and traditions of the Ancient Near East (ANE).

CREATION AND PRE-CRIME CAREER

1. Satan was a high ranking, highly elite throne-guardian angel who looks like a fiery winged serpent or dragon and existed as one of several types of elohim created not only before human beings but the construction of our entire universe.

CRIMES AND PENALTIES

2. Satan sparked an insurrection not only against God but His high priest Adam, convincing a third of the angel population to follow him in his rebellion.

3. The initial punishments suffered by Satan for his double insurrection were threefold: 1) loss of position [as throne guardian], 2) loss of physical form in this world [as a glorious dragon], 3) imprisoned in Hades [lowest, darkest, most desolate and fiery portion of Sheol]. Satan was reduced to a groveling amputee who now works as the night manager at the hotel Hades. That said, Satan retains command of a large demonic army with access to our world.

4. For almost six thousand years, Satan has been using his access to our world and the power of Sheol to reduce God’s army while increasing his own.[3]

4.1. access to our world: Though Satan’s imprisonment in Hades means he (and his angels) no longer possessed citizenship in the spiritual realm of heaven or the natural realm of earth (their two former residences – Gen 1:1 w/Job 38:4-7 and Eze 28:13-16), because Hades exists in the same geographical location as earth (Hades is the “earth beneath”- Eze 31:14) he (and his angels) still possess access to our realm. Entrance into our world primarily happens through entering - in various ways or degrees, the bodies of living physical beings – most especially human beings. Hence why Jesus says that when an unclean spirit is exorcised, it is forced to return to Hades (i.e., travel through “waterless places”), until it can find another physical host (Mat 12:43-45; Consider also Luk 8:30-33).

4.2. How Satan uses human bodies to reduce God’s army while increasing his own:

1) By placing in the minds of sinful people (Christian and non-Christian) the lie that God (Yhwh) is a fraud (e.g., Gen 3:4-5) = God is a lying, emotionally abusive, manipulator (v4; Pro 19:3) who is really not God in the truest sense (infinite and uncreated, the source of all other life) (v5a; Psa 10:4, 14:1, 53:1), but a selfish bigot and control freak whose self-deluded worship of Himself has convinced Him that His laws are the only ones worth following (5b = You will be able to make your own laws or determine for yourselves what is right and wrong). That Satan still possesses the ability to place in our brains strong and convincing lies about God after his expulsion from our world is confirmed in the NT (Joh 13:2 = Jesus is a fraud; 2Co 4:3-4 w/Eph 2:1-3 w/1Jo 3:7-12 = The gospel or Christianity [loyalty to God: His laws and people] is a fraud; Mat 13:19 = Christians are frauds; Rev 12:9-10 “deceives the whole world…accuser of our brethren”[as frauds]-10 = God, Jesus, the gospel, Christianity and Christians are all evil frauds).

2) By placing in the minds of sinful people (Christian and non-Christian) the lie that serving self or the world (what they have to offer) is better than serving God (what He has to offer) (Jam 4:1-8).

3) By placing in the minds of people not welcomed to God (those who do not truly love God/who have not truly counted the cost of following Christ - Luk 14:25-35) a very strong and convincing argument to get saved/be baptized into Christ’s Church (e.g., Act 8:13 w/21) so that they can eventually become stumbling blocks that cause others to ruin their testimony or go apostate (Mat 13:24-30, 18:7-10; Luk 17:1; 2Pe 2:13-22; Jud 1:12-19). 

4) By possessing unto apostasy those excommunicated Christians who have not embraced comprehensive repentance.[4] This danger is a part of Paul’s instruction in (1Co 5:5) “deliver to Satan” = (Lev 16:10) “send it into the wilderness [outside the heavenly outpost/realm of heaven to the realm of Hades] to Azazel [Satan].”[5] Every time therefore a person is excommunicated from the covenant community, they – like this goat are being delivered to Satan (Azazel) with one important and dangerous difference. What they are offloading in the wilderness is not the sins of others, but their own. Paul’s additional comments are key to understanding exactly what this looks like: “for the destruction of [their] flesh.” IOW: to return to the covenant community, their repentance or turning from the practice of sin must be comprehensive. Not just the sin (or sins) that severed their relationship with Christ, but the practice of all sin – most especially those of the mind (heart) which are the source of all others (1Sa 24:13; Mat 12:34, 15:18). That this is indeed what Paul is referring to by “destruction of the flesh” is confirmed and further developed in his instruction to the Romans (Rom 8:12-13) = Notice the instrument we use destroy the desires of our flesh, “the Spirit” (v14, devotion to His desires [which we find in His Word]). As made clear by Paul’s connection to salvation (“destruction of his flesh so that his soul may be saved in the day of our Lord Jesus”), the excommunicated can no longer afford to continue neglecting this obligation. To do so will mean Satan taking possession of not only their sin but their soul. If they do not take control of their lives and completely destroy all the areas of unfaithfulness or compromise that remain, Satan will take control and completely destroy their soul. Paul was not the only one aware of this danger. Peter likewise recognized the threat and attempts to warn the excommunicated (1Pe 5:8) = Though not as obvious, Peter is also alluding to the goat sent into the wilderness to Azazel. It was assumed by the Jews that this animal would soon become the prey of a larger predator – most specifically, the Asiatic “lion” who at that time, were plentiful in the region. It is therefore the souls of the excommunicated Peter warns the devil is hunting as “roaring lion” to “devour” (Grk., katapinoe = To consume something in its entirety, to swallow whole, to completely destroy – e.g., Isa 25:8 [LXX] w/1Co 15:54 and 2Co 5:4). The instruction that follows for resisting this threat likewise agrees with Paul (v9 [literal translation) “Whom you resist through firm faithfulness [faithfulness without areas of compromise – comprehensive repentance] knowing that the same sufferings [sacrifices for faithfulness] are being expected by the [rest of] the brotherhood in the world.” IOW: the comprehensive faithfulness/repentance being required of you (as the means to escaping the devil) is what is expected of all who would follow Christ.   

5) By possessing those non-Christians who can use their great power and influence to dissuade people from following Christ or continuing to follow Christ (Mat 13:20-22; Act 13:10 and 45; Eph 6:11-12; 1Th 2:14-18 w/3:5; 2Ti 2:26, 4:14-15; Rev 12:12, 17 w/13:1-7, 15-17 [w/Rev 2:10]).

4.3. power over Sheol: (Heb 2:14) = For 4,000 years, Satan seemed to be winning the war against God and His people given the advantage (or power) death afforded him in neutralizing those who would otherwise be helping in the heavenly war – those dead OT saints stuck in Sheol (Abraham’s Bosom). Evidence that the dead saints in heaven help in the heavenly war (Heb 12:22-24) = Like its predecessors (the Garden at Eden, the encampment and tabernacle at Sinai, the temple at Jerusalem), God’s house today – the church (1Ti 3:15) also resides on a mountain, the heavenly Mt. Zion – which according to the author of Hebrews puts us in direct contact with not only God and His angels, but also the dead saints who help by serving: 1) as court witnesses to our earthly behavior [good or bad] (Heb 12:1), 2) as prayer liaisons (Rev 5:8-9), 3) as advocates for Christian justice (Rev 6:9-11), and even (for some) 4) as the senior members of the church’s divine council and Jesus’ special directors of global affairs (Luk 22:30; Rev 3:21; Rev 20:4). Through His propitiatory victory at the cross (Heb 2:14 “through His death…v17 “propitiation”), the stain of sin keeping the OT saints out of heaven (Heb 12:14 “without holiness no one shall see the Lord” w/v23 “the righteous made perfect”; Consider also Heb 9:15 w/21-24 and 11:39-40; 1Co 15:20, 23; Col 1:18) was removed (the meaning of propitiation = to remove the stain of sin) allowing Christ to not only unlock the prison of Sheol and lead these saints to Paradise (Luk 23:43) but also empower them for such service (Zec 9:11-12 w/Eph 4:8-10 “so that He might empower [see 1:10 w/23]).[6]

4.4. Seeing the damage Christ would do to Satan’s war campaign - were He successful in His mission, Satan conducted operations in both assassination and ambush: 1) the (attempted) assassination of Jesus (His person and ministry – Rev 12:1-6 w/[Mat 2:13-15 and 4:1-11] = Easily and often missed in these accounts is the fact that though Satan is the assassin, God is the antagonist. In each case, it is God leading Jesus in the direction of His would-be assassin. Also impressive is the reason He always emerges unscathed. It is not because of divine intervention, but rather the obedience and trust of Jesus – and his family, to the words of God)[7]. 2) the ambush of heaven’s train (Rev 12:7-9) = Given the context surrounding these verses, this heavenly “war” is not because of Satan’s original insurrection but Christ’s redemptive victory and ascension back to heaven – or more specifically, the heavenly train of saints that followed (vv1-5 “was caught to God and His throne”; v10 “Now the salvation, and the power and the kingdom of our God and the authority of His Christ has come”; Again Zec 9:11-12 w/Eph 4:8-9). As discussed, their emancipation from Sheol and subsequent empowerment posed a major threat to Satan’s earthly efforts. The battle depicted in these verses is therefore an ambush – or desperate attempt to stop these saints from reaching heaven’s borders. Hence the reason Michael is the one mentioned as the commanding officer in this melee. According to Daniel and Ancient Judaism, Michael is Satan’s replacement in the protection of God’s sacred people (Dan 12:1). 

[1] “If you know the enemy and you know yourself, you need not fear the result of a hundred battles. If you know yourself, but not the enemy, for every victory gained you will also suffer a defeat…The opportunity for defeating the enemy is provided by [knowing] the enemy himself…Force him to reveal himself, so as to find his vulnerable spots.” – Sun Tzu (The Art of War)

[2] “Trying to grasp the darkest of the dark and understand it is a way to ensure we never become it (or its victim)…You don’t want to be fooled; you don’t want to become a victim, so what can you learn to avoid it." – Anne Burgess (criminal forensics nurse, founder of the FBI’s criminal profiling program; agent responsible for the capture of America’s most notorious serial killers).

[3] Satan operates under the delusion that if he can substantially reduce God’s army while also increasing the number of his, he can successfully beat Christ at His return in the 7th millennium (Rev 12:12 “the devil has great wrath…knowing that he has only a short time” = Satan is aware of the designated timeframe of God’s test).

[4] Satan cannot possess those whose have been born (again) into the heavenly realm (Joh 3:3 [born from above” – heaven]; Eph 2:6; Phi 3:20; Act 26:18; Col 1:18; 1Jo 5:18 “born of God” [resides in the heavenly realm]). He can however possess those who are in his realm (Hades/earth) – which includes not only the entire world but also those who have been sent back to his realm – those excommunicated and unrepentant (1Jo 5:19 “in the power of the evil one” = in Satan’s possession or control).

[5] “The point of the goat for Azazel was not that something was owed to the demonic realm, as though a ransom was being paid. The goat for Azazel banished the sins of the Israelites to the realm outside Israel [from the heavenly realm to the realm of Hades]…The high priest was not sacrificing to Azazel. Rather, Azazel was getting what belonged to him.” – Michael Heiser (Demons); “Elimination rites are… employed to drive the demons from human habitations and back to the wilderness, which is another way of saying that the demons are driven back to their point of origin…Thus in Israel, the goat for Azazel bearing the sins of Israel, though it is bound for the wilderness, is in reality returning evil to its source, the netherworld [i.e. Hades].”  - Jacob Milgrom (Leviticus 1-16: A New Translation with Introduction and Commentary)

[6] If none of the OT dead saints were afforded heaven (or its subsequent empowerment) before Christ’s redemptive victory, then what about Enoch and Elijah? Neither ascended into heaven. Consider: 1) Enoch (Gen 5:24 “and he was not, for God took him” w/Heb 11:5 “By [faithfulness] Enoch was taken [transposed or transferred] up [not in the Greek text] so that he would not see death; AND HE WAS NOT FOUND BECAUSE GOD TOOK [transposed or transferred] HIM UP [again, not in the Greek text]”) = Neither verse confirms that Enoch went to heaven. Notice that in both cases the word “heaven” never appears. Rather, what is being communicated is that Enoch did not suffer (“see” or experience) the pains of death (hence the reason, his dead body was “NOT FOUND.”). He was instead transposed or transferred directly to Abraham’s Bosom as the reward for being “pleasing to God.” Being transposed directly into the spiritual realm without first shedding our physical body on earth should not pose a problem in our thinking given both Jesus’ ascent to heaven while still possessing His physical body (Act 1:9) and God’s ability to change our form from physical to spiritual in “the twinkling of an eye” (1Co 15:52). 2) Elijah (2Ki 2:1 w/11 “take up Elijah by a whirlwind to heaven”) = Though the word “heaven” is employed, it refers to the sky (the second “heaven”) – not its spiritual counterpart. Elijah was supernaturally (by “whirlwind” or “a chariot of fire”) taken up into the sky and transferred from his present locale and to another which remained undisclosed and undiscovered until the day of his death. At least three things support this as the correct understanding of the event. First, Elisha allows men to look for him (2:15-18 = Though Elisha had its doubts, hardly would he have allowed the men to conduct an arduous – mountain-climbing search, had he understood Elijah to have been taken to literal heaven). Second, being whisked away by God to different places on earth was a common experience in the ministry of Elijah (e.g., 1Ki 17:2-6, 18:10-12). Third – and most importantly, Elijah pens a letter to king Jehoram after his supposed transfer to heaven (2Ch 21:12-15 = Jehoram receives the letter after the death of his father, Jehoshaphat [v1] who was still alive at the time of the whirlwind event – e.g., 3:1-14). This interpretation was common among ancient Jews (e.g., Josephus – Antiquities; Seder Olam Rabbah, Rabbi Yosei – Talmud) and early Christians (e.g., Ephraem Syrus, Cyril of Jerusalem, Chrysostom, Theodoret, Photios). For further study see, Ken Burkett, “Did Elijah Really Ascend into Heaven in a Whirlwind?” 

[7] It is worth mentioning that though a different word in Greek, Satan’s intention to “devour” Jesus is most likely also referring to his plan to do whatever he could to cause Jesus to apostasize during His earthly ministry and life (e.g., Mat 4:9).