Biblical Audio Commentary – Repetition

Biblical Audio Commentary – Repetition

Transcript:

In the aftermath of my Awaken Bible Prophecy Update titled The Return of the Gods – In Technicolor, I received a question that made me pause.  The person asking the question has been following my work for some time and has undoubtedly heard me speak in my Prophecy Updates on this subject of these gods at various times.  However, the question posed was:

“So Baal, Ishtar and Molech are actual gods? I thought they were just gods that people made up so that they could have something to worship.”

Now I truly mean no disrespect to the person asking this question.  What the question does do is to confirm to me how the vast majority of churches have failed to provide a true understanding of the Biblical narrative.  Yes, many have been faithful in teaching the Gospel.  This is obviously a necessity.  (Although this seemingly obvious requirement is declining rapidly as churches go apostate.). The problem is that in whatever ways the Old Testament has been taught and then linked to the New Testament, what has been conveyed about the ages-old spiritual battle we’re in has been woefully inadequate.

Evil has been around since the Garden.  What I’ve tried to convey in various ways in my Prophecy Updates and Commentaries is an understanding of why and how it’s so much more than simply Satan as its perpetrator.  He’s no doubt the lead character in the Biblical narrative and as a result gets all the credit, but he’s got plenty of help.  We point to Satan and accuse him of every wickedness, yet he is only a single demonic entity.  He’s not everywhere at once, i.e. omnipresent, nor can he be.  It’s the spiritual hierarchy of the dark realm that Paul outlines in Ephesians 6:12 that is responsible for the vast majority of the deeds we attribute to Satan.  It’s only by really grasping this fact – understanding it and what it looks like – that we’re able to mount an adequate defense against it.  After all, shouldn’t we gain understanding of the enemy so that we can combat him more effectively?

To the point of my friend’s question: Yes, absolutely, these gods are real.  Critically, however, we must understand what they are and what they are not.  The God of the Bible, comprised of the Trinity of Father, Son (Jesus), and Holy Spirit, is the One true God – Creator God of everything that is.  Before He made the earth, He populated the heavens with various spiritual entities for a variety of purposes.  We see God’s creative efforts in Job 38:4-7 in addition to the fact that there was a heavenly host already present:

“Where were you when I laid the foundation of the earth?
Tell me, if you have understanding.
Who determined its measurements—surely you know!
Or who stretched the line upon it?
On what were its bases sunk,
or who laid its cornerstone,
when the morning stars sang together
and all the sons of God shouted for joy?

The morning stars may have been angels or other divine beings to whom God gave responsibility for the various luminaries in the sky, e.g. sun, moon, and stars.  The sons of God were powerful beings known in Hebrew as bene Elohim.  There are also angels, cherubim, seraphim, and others – each with a specific task or purpose for which God delegates.  As far as we know all spiritual entities have free will just as we humans do.  A subset of the sons of God (also known as Watchers – ref: Daniel 4 and the pseudepigraphical book of 1 Enoch) in their free will rebelled upon seeing the beauty of earthly women.  Genesis 6:1-4 describes their descent to earth in order to fulfill their lustful desires to procreate with these women.  The aftermath of this rebellion was immense depravity upon the earth such that God had no option but to destroy all flesh – that which was completely human, if any was left, and hybrid flesh, i.e. the offspring of the sons of God with humans known as Nephilim (plus, likely, the union of Nephilim with animals and the resulting atrocities).

When the Nephilim perished, in the Flood, their spirits were released.  They became bodiless entities we know as demons, which wander the earth always seeking a body to possess.  God cast His rebellious sons from this episode into the bottomless prison abyss known as Tartarus, where they are chained until they will be released during the Tribulation to plague unbelieving mankind.

Following this, evil continued to erupt in the heavenly realm among God’s divine children.  They could sin with the best of us and showed it in what they did next.  From the Tower of Babel incident, God appointed His at-the-time loyal, spiritual sons over the nations as noted in Deuteronomy 32:8 (ESV):

When the Most High gave to the nations their inheritance,
when he divided mankind,
he fixed the borders of the peoples
according to the number of the sons of God.

Sadly, these sons couldn’t resist the temptation of self-exaltation by designating themselves as gods over the many nations.  Again, we learn from Paul in Ephesians 6:12 that they have arranged themselves in a hierarchical order of power and might (very likely copying their Father’s example in heaven):

For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places.

We get a sense of how powerful these beings are from Daniel 10 in which Gabriel attempts to bring a message to the prophet but is delayed for 21 days by the Prince of Persia.  If this entity can delay a mighty angel like Gabriel, you know how strong he must be.

Because of Johnathan Cahn’s book The Return of the Gods, we see – I believe – spiritual beings whose influence goes far beyond the geographical borders which the Deuteronomy 32:8 verse describes.  Satan is the head, but these beings are only slightly less powerful.  Named as Baal, Ishtar, and Molech, they have been present far and wide in numerous cultures throughout the history of the world.  It is these and others we see in the Bible and in ancient societies being revered and worshiped as gods.

The problem with all this is that Christianity through the ages – with much secular input – has essentially demythologized the Bible so as to eradicate the supernatural.  The influence behind this effort is absolutely satanic.  Remember that one of Satan’s best tricks is that he made mankind think he doesn’t exist.  So it is with this pantheon of so-called gods.  They are very real.  They do exist.  It’s just that they really aren’t gods.  They are spiritual beings who pretend at that so as to cause humanity to look away from the One true God.

The church has in large measure bought into this lie that only Satan is active, that the gods spoken of in Scripture are imaginary, and our spiritual battle isn’t really as immense as it is.  This has caused most who read the Bible (the very few these days) to simply read passages about the gods and pass right over them.  In their blindness to all this, people literally don’t even see the verses which refer to this great war in which we’re engaged.

This has made the church both ignorant and ineffective against the spiritual realm.  It’s been dismissed as a factor corrupting the world, and the church has gone its merry way losing influence in the world as well as true believers, since pastors don’t speak to the truth of ALL of God’s Word.

This is why you’ll often find me repeating many of the passages pointing to the truth that refers to what’s really going on in the world.  The gods have been gathering strength for years, even as the church has weakened.  Spiritual darkness from the efforts of these gods has encompassed and clouded the minds of mankind.  Far too many in the church have become like the goldfish in their fishbowl.  They don’t know they are in water; people in the church don’t understand that they are shrouded in darkness.

Because the light of the Gospel has been preached less and less, there have been fewer means for the darkness to be dissipated.  In fact, we are experiencing the fulfillment of Bible prophecy at the end of this age.  The darkness had to increase to the point that God will have no option but to bring His wrath, judgment, and destruction upon the world.  We are on the cusp of the next Flood, except the devastation won’t come by water.  Through the plagues of the Tribulation, the remaining people will choose either to accept the truth of Christ or reject Him.  Then, it’s curtains for this world.

What is soon to come is extreme and horrific.  Praise God that just like Noah and his family, God has made a way for those of us who truly believe in Him in fear and reverence to be removed from the earth prior to this massive cleansing which is to come.

Is this a pessimistic perspective?  Absolutely!  But consider that true believers can and should have the greatest optimism because of God’s grace, mercy, and love.

So, once more, by all means: the gods are real and they are doing their best to turn people’s hearts from Almighty God.  However, their efforts are ultimately in vain.  God will cast them into the Lake of Fire, and they will be no more.  Praise God!