Month: May 2025

Noah Was Perfect in His Genes

On By TimIn Genesis 06, Sons of God, Spiritual WarfareLeave a comment

These are the generations of Noah.
Noah was a just man and blameless among his contemporaries. Noah walked with God.

Genesis 6:9

This verse is from the Bible, which I read and use regularly. But, there is a problem with it that may go unnoticed, which is going to become apparent. I do use tools other than just reading the Bible. Because I love going beyond just reading, I understand what this verse is really getting at, despite the simplicity in translation that may obscure some facts.

To help with your understanding, I am going to give a link to a plethora of translations of this verse. I want you to look there before moving on with reading. I want to give you, the reader, an opportunity to discover the issue for yourself. When you have examined the translations, continue reading.

Here is the link to the list of Genesis 6:9. Bible Hub is a great resource. It provides a generous number of commentaries on the Bible, including cross references and other resources.

While the Modern English Version I use is reliable. Mainly, I use an electronic version. I do have a print version, and the notes in the study portion drop hints of the doctrines the translators embrace. Basically, they go along with the Sons of Seth being the sons of God in Genesis 6:1–2. The beginning of Genesis 6 provides a fork in the road to two distinctly different understandings. The Sons of Seth doctrine is fraught with many problems; there is a better understanding, as you may see by continuing. It also tends to shed light on the pressures of translating the Bible.

The sons of Seth doctrine was introduced by Augustine of Hippo in his work The City of God. He saw these as righteous men who took wives of the daughters of men. The daughters of men in this case means the daughters of Cain. This was a huge divergence from the traditional Jewish interpretation that the sons of God were fallen angels. Augustine held that the traditional Jewish idea was incredible. He didn’t like it

So, which is the better understanding?

Genesis

This is the most important part of the conversation in this part of the text. It is the usage of the Hebrew word toledot translated as correctly as generations. It properly points to the descendants of Noah.

If you were paying attention back at the link above, it was discovered that some translations use the English word generation twice. The Modern English Version above uses generations first and contemporaries second. Which does sort of convey the idea. Contemporaries is translated from the Hebrew word dor. It is used in a specific form here, which only occurs once in the Tanakh.

Some translations use the word generation twice. This idea comes from how the King James Version renders both Hebrew words. Those translators probably used the way the Septuagint translators used one Greek word for both Hebrew words.

Now these are the generations of Noah: Noah, a righteous person who was perfect among his generation. Noah was pleasing to God.

Genesis 6:9 (Lexham English Septuagint)

The Septuagint is the Greek translation of the Tanakh. It was used at the time of Jesus. In that work, both Hebrew words of different meanings were translated into the Greek word genesis. The first occurrence is plural, the second singular.

The first Septuagint usage of the Greek word genesis is from the title of the first book of the Tanakh. That is why the first book is named Genesis in English. The first usage in the text of the Greek word genesis is in Genesis 2:4, where it is translated from the Hebrew toledot, which means origins in English.

To recap, the Greek word genesis is connected to origins or beginnings. By its usage in the verse above, it includes ancestry. Ancestry brings to mind genetics and DNA. These two ideas are inherently important in the second chapter of Genesis. Then there is the real hint that DNA is important and that the seed or offspring becomes the cornerstone of the redemption.

I will put enmity
between you and the woman,
and between your offspring and her offspring;
he will bruise your head,
and you will bruise his heel.”

Genesis 3:15

What becomes clear is that this is a gene war to claim the Human Race. One side employs corruption, the Other, redemption.

Though I don’t think the language of the time had specific words for genetics like we modern folks do. The ideas are apparent. Another necessary point to understand is that the English word gene comes from the German language by way of the original Greek word genea.

It is also important to know that the Greek word genesis also conveys the idea of nativity or nature.

Perfect Character or Perfect Nature?

That is the dilemma presented between the traditional (Septuagint and KJV) understandings of what is being said and the way modern scholars tend to translate.

The traditional understanding is clear. Noah’s genealogy is perfect. Modern Bibles say Noah’s life is perfect. Compare the MEV at the beginning with a more literal translation.

These are the generations of Noah. Noah was a righteous man, without defect in his generations. Noah walked with God.

Genesis 6:9 (Lexham English Bible)

Comparing that with the former MEV reveals some seeming loss of precision in the way it handles the text. It seems to blur the distinction between righteous and perfect to make this inference about Noah’s moral character.

With a modern blurred distinction, one comes away with the idea that moral imperfection was everywhere, and Noah was perfect. But that cannot be so, as God conveys that it is all flesh, not just humanity.

The earth was corrupt before God and filled with violence. God looked on the earth and saw it was corrupt, for all flesh had corrupted their way on the earth.

Genesis 6:11–12

This idea also adds complication, as it would include animals and creeping things. It also indicates that all flesh somehow willingly participated in this corruption.

The obvious conclusion is that there was a genetic imperfection that affected all kinds of flesh. Yet Noah’s perfection hints that not all individuals were affected. Is this idea explained in the text?

Bring every living thing of all flesh, two of every kind, into the ark to keep them alive with you. They shall be male and female. Two of every kind of bird, of every kind of animal, and of every kind of creeping thing of the earth will come to you to be kept alive.

Genesis 6:19–20

What is implied there is that God chose the animals to go on the ark, not Noah. This is another indicator of which animals were genetically fit to repopulate the Earth.

With this understanding, this judgment by flood was necessary because of genetic impurity. It is not about Noah being morally righteous or blameless. Most of us know that after the deluge subsided, he planted a vineyard and got drunk. Paul writes of the simple truth of the lot of humanity, we have all missed the mark and fallen short.

For all have sinned and come short of the glory of God,

Romans 3:23

One side in this war corrupts, the Other redeems.

Politics in Translation

As much as one would like to think that translations are objective. The people who do the work are susceptible to societal pressure. They are not immune to being influenced by the zeitgeist and politics from within the cultures where they live and work.

For example, the translators of the King James Version rendered the Greek word ekklesia as church. This deviated from William Tyndale’s earlier English translation, which was foundational to the KJV. Tyndale rendered ekklesia as congregation. This is the better reading and tends to follow the Septuagint, which used the word ekklesia to describe the mixed multitude in the Exodus. Consider a modern translation that brings clarity. The better English word is congregation or assembly.

This is he who was in the congregation in the wilderness with the angel who spoke to him on Mount Sinai, and with our fathers, who received living oracles to give to us,

Acts 7:38

Here is the KJV for contrast.

This is he, that was in the church in the wilderness with the angel which spake to him in the mount Sina, and with our fathers: who received the lively oracles to give unto us:

Acts 7:38 (King James Version)

One might wonder how and why these things happen. The translators were aware of the king’s preference for the Anglican High Church. However, it was the independents (low church) who eschewed the hierarchy, preferring local control of congregations. This attitude of the king is still prevalent. There is a tendency among those who prefer high church liturgical ministrations to look down on independent congregations.

These independents and other separatists preferred to call themselves congregations and assemblies. This would create an apparent distinction between the Catholic and Anglican churches.

Remember, the KJV came about at a time when sovereign kings could still behead people who crossed them. The translators would not want to do something that would lead to beheading.

Subtle Corruption Enters

As with Augustine and the KJV, there is still a subtle inclination to dissipate the true teachings of God’s Word. Whether that dissipation is intentional or not, it is something of which a student of the Word needs to be aware. The constant barrage has been from the genesis, “Has God really said?” And it continues today.

The political pressures that stem from World War II still affect cultures today. That war pitted the Allied Powers against the Axis Powers. In an odd pairing, the Allied Powers were generally English-speaking nations with capitalist economies oddly partnering with the communists in Russia and China. These were allied to defeat the nationalists in Germany, Italy, and Japan.

The common thread amongst the leaders of the Axis Powers came from a belief that they were racially superior to other people. The Nazis in Germany claimed descent from a master race of ancients called Aryans. The foremost idea was to cleanse the Reich of genetically impure undesirables. The leaders in Italy wanted to revive the glories of the Roman Empire. In like manner, the popularity of eugenics was used to improve the quality of the Italian race. The Japanese considered themselves genetically superior to other Asian peoples and established themselves as protectors of asians against the encroachment of the Western Powers. Eugenics drove the effort to purify the Japanese race.

I must add a caveat here. I am certain there is only one race. It is Adam’s. We all share his blood and have a common Redeemer named Jesus. (Whether you actually believe it or not. Those truths remain.)

Back to World War II… The media in the nations of the Allied Powers often portrayed the driving narrative of the Axis Powers in stark racial language. Which is kind of weird because the demonic practices of eugenics were worldwide, even in the Allied Powers. This racial language stoked the hatred of the nationalist Axis Powers. It is also important to consider that the Marxist tenets of communism rejected ethnicity. Communist nations tended to avoid explicit declarations of inherent nationalist superiority. That makes for strange bedfellows.

Rejecting capitalism, communism prefers collectivism. It attempts to unite the masses of the poor of all races for the common good. Communist ideals attempt to better humanity through the proper application of social theory toward an equal outcome for all. It denies any natural inherited advantage, which tends toward celebrating mediocrity.

With time, the mass media in capitalist countries increasingly embraced the ideas of equal outcome. Those sympathetic to communism began to seek positions of influence. Eventually, the portrayal of World War II became a war against nationalism. Over time, this Marxist ideal against favoring one’s own nation or people of that nation over another subtly transformed from patriotism to nationalism and then to racism.

So the problem coming from the traditional interpretation of Genesis 6:9 becomes self-evident. With this subtle Marxism that entered the culture, it came to be preferred by the instructors in learning institutions. We can see the end result of this just by watching the news in the United States and other nations. Eventually, the Bible’s commending of Noah’s genetic purity to renew Adam’s race became quite unacceptable in academia. It is subtly embraced in many seminaries. Hence, the perfection moves from being applied to Noah’s ancestral genetic nature to his moral nature.

The Sons of God

The significance of Genesis 6:9 is subtly and increasingly obscured. With a proper understanding, Noah’s lineage becomes extremely important. The necessity of the flood is then overtly apparent. Something happened to corrupt all the kinds of flesh on Earth.

This is told immediately before Noah finds favor. And before it is revealed that God chose Noah.

When men began to multiply on the face of the earth and daughters were born to them, the sons of God saw that the daughters of men were fair and took as wives any they chose. The Lord said, “My Spirit will not always strive with man, for he is flesh; yet his days will be a hundred and twenty years.”
The Nephilim were on the earth in those days, and also after that, when the sons of God came in to the daughters of men, and they bore children to them. These were the mighty men who were of old, men of renown.
The Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great on the earth, and that every intent of the thoughts of his heart was continually only evil. The Lord was sorry that He had made man on the earth, and it grieved Him in His heart. So the Lord said, “I will destroy man, whom I have created, from the face of the earth—both man and beast, and the creeping things, and the birds of the sky, for I am sorry that I have made them.” But Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord.

Genesis 6:1–8

This text exposes another subtly corrupted understanding of Genesis. One that I mentioned earlier. That is, that the good guys took the bad girls to wed.

The reality is that beings called the sons of God took human females as wives. This is stated in the above (Genesis 6:1–4) and parallels the apocryphal book of Enoch. I know what you might think of the apocrypha. Yet Enoch was included in the Tanakh.

And it happened that when the sons of men multiplied in those days, they begat good and beautiful daughters. And the angels, the sons of heaven, saw them and longed for them and said to one another, “Come let us choose for ourselves women from among the people and bring forth for ourselves children.”

Enoch 6:1–2 (Lexham English Septuagint)

These sons of God have transgressed in such a way that prompts God to bring certain judgment to them for their sin. Their sin involved flesh, as it is clear that flesh was condemned to perish in the flood.

The text says the sons of God found the women attractive, so they took whom they wanted as wives. There is some assumptions I make here. First, if they are marrying, it must have followed the traditions of marriage. Traditional marriage requires a bride price… A dowry. I also know from others’ testimonies that the spiritual world is legalistic. That is not a far-fetched notion, as God makes and keeps covenants.

With that, I think that the Bible shows these dowries in Genesis 4:17–24, where Cain’s progeny are lavishly endowed with technological knowledge.

Not After Their Kind

So, if the human sons of Seth took the human daughters of Cain, what is the grievous sin?

The answer is encoded in the phrase any they chose. That is, not who they chose but from where they came… Humanity.

Angels doing what was unseemly, taking daughters of men, they took strange flesh. That is, they took something that was not intended for the purposes for which the fallen wanted to use it. They made odd human-angel chimeras. These became the giants, the titans, the gods of old. Which were found in the pantheons of the Ancient Near East. Then migrating into the pantheons of Greece and Rome.

Let me explain… The purposes of reproduction are to multiply after their kind, just as established at creation. Humans reproduce humans. Angels don’t reproduce. Which probably leads to an objection some may have based on this:

Jesus answered, “You err, not knowing the Scriptures nor the power of God. For in the resurrection they neither marry nor are given in marriage, but are like the angels of God in heaven.

Matthew 22:29–30

The first thing to grasp about this passage is that Jesus is correcting the Sadducees who didn’t understand the Torah and its clear teachings on angels and resurrection. Second, Jesus did not say that angels cannot reproduce. He is saying they don’t marry, meaning there is no need for reproduction after their kind in heaven; their kind being elohim. Likewise, in the resurrection, there is no reproduction after their kind necessary. The Bible clearly states that the serpent (Shining One) of Genesis 3 has seed. It follows that other elohim (angels) do, too.

(Elohim is used as a spiritual class of being when used with lower-case e. Capitalized Elohim is the Most High God. God is Elohim, but not all elohim are God.)

When angels take humans as wives and bear children, chimeras are created. Just this act alone violates many of the guardrails God established. The resulting progeny were not from reproduction after their kind.

There are lots of technicalities wrought in this idea. But the underlying issue is that of comingled DNA. I will save you the details, but it is inherent that the same happened to the animal kinds, as they were also destroyed in the flood.

The Bible says there is nothing new under the sun. Genetic manipulation has always been around. Human technology has advanced much. We can manipulate genetics with novel tools.

Do you wonder what God thinks about technologies like CRISPR that can edit the genome?

Humanity has the technology to create chimeras. This isn’t just hybridization or selective breeding for desired traits that already exist in an organism’s genome. It is a very different practice of combining genetics from one organism to another.

Consider something so familiar as corn. Your home probably contains products made from genetically modified corn. This would probably be an organism that is called BT-Corn. It gets its name from the naturally occurring bacteria Bacillus thuringiensis. (Science cannot create bacteria.) The bacteria produce a toxin used as a pesticide. In making BT-corn, scientists take a gene that produces the toxin from the bacterium. It is then inserted into the genome of corn. The corn then produces the toxin that kills predator pests by destroying the digestive tract of the caterpillar larvae.

In effect, that corn is a chimera. There is going to be some disagreement in my distinction between chimera and hybrid. But I want to make clear that inserting traits by genetic manipulation is not traditional hybridization.

But these things don’t reproduce after their kind. Bacteria do not reproduce with corn. I know about ligers, mules, and other hybrids like them. Ligers would be a kind of feline, and mules a kind of equine. Felines don’t reproduce with canines or equines.

All that to say, when angels sire with humans, the result is something that wasn’t properly meant to be. It was seeking after strange flesh.

Stranger Danger

Does my choice of words sound familiar?

It should.

Likewise, the angels who did not keep to their first domain, but forsook their own dwelling, He has kept in everlasting chains under darkness for the judgment of the great day. Just as Sodom and Gomorrah, and the surrounding cities in like manner, gave themselves to immorality and went after different flesh, they serve as an example by suffering the punishment of eternal fire.

Jude 6-7

Jude’s epistle helps to bring understanding to what really conspired before the flood. I think the epistle also supports my opinion that the daughters of men were really the daughters of Cain. (Augustine got something right.) The angels who fell entered into a covenant by marriage with human families in the progeny of Cain. As stated previously, there was a technological explosion among the children of Cain. It seems likely that the fathers of those taken received technological knowledge as dowry. Jude tells us that the way of Cain has to do with selfish greed.

Woe to them! For they have gone in the way of Cain, have run greedily after the error of Balaam for a reward, and perished in the rebellion of Korah.

Jude 11

Noah Was Perfect

We know Noah, like Adam, sinned. We all do. He did not lead a perfect life and needed the same Redeemer we all do. But what is given is that Noah’s ancestry was genetically pure enough to be the progenitor of the renewal of the human race. All eight of those selected to be on the ark would have had untainted genetics.

The unspoken necessity is that angels intermarrying with the daughters of men imposed themselves into the genetics of humanity. Without the intervention of the deluge, all of humanity would have been changed, and redemption would have been impossible.

This gets really technical. The angel-human chimera comes from the seed of angels. Angels have no kinsman. Without a kin relationship, which is in the blood, there is no redemption. This whole idea comes from the Hebrew word goel, which is translated as kinsman, redeemer, and blood avenger in the Tanakh. The last Adam, Jesus Christ, is the Kinsman, the Redeemer, and the Blood Avenger of the entire lot of Adam’s seed.

This was the enemy’s first great incursion to stop redemption. When one considers Jude 1:6, it is clear that what happened is disorderly. I’m no Greek scholar, but when Jude writes, “the angels who did not keep to their first domain, but forsook their own dwelling.” He is saying that those angels left their sovereign domains and forsook their own dwellings (idiomatically analogous to the container we call our body).

Think like this, at creation, humanity was given a domain to master and become sovereign over. (I know the word might upset sensibilities, but the idea is important and contextual.) In Genesis 1:26, humans were given the imperative by God at creation to take dominion over the earth. This is His order He established. The underlying idea connects to the words in Jude, again by way of the Septuagint. The Hebrew word for rule is rada. It is an imperative meaning to dominate or lord over. The Septuagint translates the Hebrew rada to the Greek archo. That verb means to rule or to begin. In other words, to be first. In Jude, the Greek word arche is translated as domain. Which is a word that means power, ruler, and the sphere of authority. So the usage of sovereign fits. The angels did not keep their own sovereignty.

The next idea from Jude 1:6 is the phrase proper dwelling place. This is from a somewhat unique Greek word oiketerion. This word is used only once in another place in the New Testament.

In this one we groan, earnestly desiring to be sheltered with our house which is from heaven.

2 Corinthians 5:2

Here, oiketerion is translated as house. Paul uses it as an idiom of our physical body, which houses us.

These angels violated their proper place by insinuating themselves into another. I don’t know how to convey the stark importance of the legalities violated. The goal originated from angels to corrupt the seed of man. The sentence was immediate and everlasting confinement. Their progeny were sentenced to be destroyed in the flood. From that, it is easy to infer that there was no place on Earth for these chimeras.

Having no Redeemer, it follows that the spirits of these dead chimeras now have no dwelling place. There is much debate, and some say they roam and antagonize humanity as demons. They endlessly pursue a vicarious experience through others. They yearn for the things that they partook in with their own bodies. Essentially, they are forever searching for satiation of their lusts. The Bible does say demons have no dwelling places of their own and roam around deserted places.

I cannot help to point out how Peter seemed to consider this idea. Because these chimeras died in the flood, they went into the water and never came out. It’s a quaint euphemism for death.

Believer’s Baptism

Now, picture how baptism is done. People are plunged into the water and then forcefully pulled out… Alive. It’s the antithesis of what happened to the angel-human chimeras at the flood. In essence, these ones pulled from the water are appointed to resurrection, unlike the spirits of the chimeras who perished under the water. Every single time someone is baptized, the fallen ones are reminded of their fated eternity.

Peter speaks of Jesus going into Sheol. It was to show the triumph over death He had. It was to show His triumph over all authorities and powers who are now subject to Him. Peter also likens baptism as idiomatic of the reality. It is a picture of the resurrection, proclaiming those appointed to that end.

For Christ also has once suffered for sins, the just for the unjust, so that He might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh, but made alive by the Spirit, by whom He also went and preached to the spirits in prison, who in times past were disobedient, when God waited patiently in the days of Noah while the ark was being prepared, in which a few, that is, eight souls, were saved through water. Figuratively this is like baptism, which also saves us now. It is not washing off the dirt from the body, but a response to God from a good conscience through the resurrection of Jesus Christ, who has gone into heaven and is at the right hand of God, with angels and authorities and powers being made subject to Him.

1 Peter 3:18–22

In his second epistles, Peter uses baptism as the antithesis to those perishing beneath the waters.

For if God did not spare the angels that sinned, but cast them down to hell and delivered them into chains of darkness to be kept for judgment; and if He did not spare the ancient world, but saved Noah, a preacher of righteousness, with seven others, when He brought a flood upon the world of the ungodly; and if He condemned the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah to destruction by reducing them to ashes, making them an example to those afterward who would live ungodly lives; and if He delivered righteous Lot, who was distressed by the filthy conduct of the wicked (for that righteous man lived among them, and what he saw and heard of their lawless deeds tormented his righteous soul day after day); then the Lord knows how to rescue the godly from trial, and to keep the unrighteous under punishment for the Day of Judgment, especially those who walk after the flesh in pursuit of unclean desires, and despise authority.

2 Peter 2:4–10

The Lord knows how to rescue the godly from trial and to punish the ungodly.

Which are you?

Cherubs and Old Gods

On By TimIn Angels, Ezekiel 01, Spiritual WarfareLeave a comment

As I looked, a whirlwind came out of the north, a great cloud with fire flashing forth continually, and a brightness was all around it, and in its midst something as glowing metal in the midst of the fire. Also out of the midst came the likeness of four living creatures. And this was their appearance: They had the likeness of a man. Every one had four faces, and every one had four wings. Their legs were straight and the soles of their feet were like the sole of a calf’s hoof. And they gleamed like the color of burnished bronze. They had the hands of a man under their wings on their four sides. As for the faces and wings of the four of them, their wings were joined to one another. Their faces did not turn when they went. Each went straight forward.
As for the likeness of their faces, each had the face of a man, and all four had the face of a lion on the right side, and the face of an ox on the left side, and the face of an eagle. Thus were their faces. And their wings were stretched upward. Two wings of every one were joined to one another, and two covered their bodies.

Ezekiel 1:4–11

The most fascinating thing about the Bible are the things that are hidden in plain sight. Consider the above passage, as Ezekiel is given a vision of God’s throne. There’s much to be discovered here, but the important thing will be to compare the passage above to this:

As for the wheels, they were called in my hearing the whirling wheels. Each one had four faces. The first face was the face of a cherub, the second face was the face of a man, the third the face of a lion, and the fourth the face of an eagle.

Ezekiel 10:13–14

Now… The descriptions of the creatures seem almost the same, and some might just read past both and not think to compare. There is one significant difference, that may just be a coincidence, right?

Do oxen and cherubs have similar looks?

I’m certain most think of cherubs as like little babies dressed in diapers much like depictions of Cupid. Maybe Ezekiel was confused by what he saw. I don’t think so. Here’s why.

Reading a bit further in Ezekiel, we see this lament against the King of Tyre.

Moreover the word of the Lord came to me, saying: Son of man, take up a lamentation over the king of Tyre and say to him, Thus says the Lord God:
You had the seal of perfection,
full of wisdom and perfect in beauty.
You were in Eden,
the garden of God;

Ezekiel 28:11–13a

Wait. What?

When was the King of Tyre in the Garden of God?

What we have encountered is a literary device where a character serves as a substitute for another. In this case, the passage is not about the King of Tyre, but someone like him who was in the garden of Eden.

The King of Tyre was not a good guy… Neither is that one denizen in the garden of God.

Most of us probably think we can readily identify this seedy character. Ezekiel did not. That discussion would be fun to have, but the important part is how this character is identified. That is, as in a class of being.

You were in Eden,
the garden of God;
every precious stone was your covering:
the sardius, topaz, and the diamond,
the beryl, the onyx, and the jasper,
the sapphire, the emerald, and the carbuncle, and gold.
The workmanship of your settings and sockets was in you;
on the day that you were created, they were prepared.
You were the anointed cherub that covers,
and I set you there;
you were upon the holy mountain of God;
you walked up and down in the midst of the stones of fire.

Ezekiel 28:13–14

You were the anointed cherub. What do you think cherubs look like?

I think Ezekiel knew and encoded it in his writings. Again, Ezekiel did not identify the character in the garden of God. What we do know is that more than one of these angelic beings rebelled against God. In fact, one-third of their number will be part of the sedition against God.

The ox is bovine in nature. The ox was domesticated. But like all domesticated cattle they have a common ancestor that roamed much of Eurasia. It is called the aurochs. These creatures have been hunted to extinction in the 17th century. The aurochs were menacing and stood darn close to six feet high at the shoulders. This was a powerful animal.

With that background, add in that oxen can also be identified as having horns. Oxen were known to gore people, we get this from the remedies given in the Torah, like in Exodus 21:28-29. Horns are not necessarily indicators of a male bull.

Now, considering the ancient near east, there is much evidence of bovine worship. Greek mythology describes the founding of Europe. Zeus came in the form of an aurochs bull, he then seduces and kidnaps the beautiful princess Europa. Cows are still considered sacred in India.

All of these ancient mythologies overlap and are a unique thing to study in themselves. Frankly, I didn’t pay attention to the mythologies taught in high school, though I wish I did now. But the polemics in the Bible exposes the real identities of these entities. I am of the opinion that bull worship is almost as old as humanity itself. It is still prevalent today, if one knows how to discern it.

This bull worship certainly tripped up Israel from the earliest days.

He received them from their hand, and fashioned it with an engraving tool, and made it into a molded calf. Then they said, “This is your god, O Israel, who brought you up from the land of Egypt.”

Exodus 32:4

It is a recurring theme.

At that point, the king got some advice and made two golden calves and said to the people, “It is too difficult for you to go up to Jerusalem. Here are your gods, O Israel, which brought you up out of the land of Egypt.” He set one in Bethel, and he put the other in Dan. This was a sin, for the people went to worship before the one, even all the way in Dan.  

1 Kings 12:28–30

The gods of Canaan became a real trap for Israel just as God had warned in Exodus. It was probably less than a month after hearing the warning that Israel would ensnare themselves. Those made gods of Israel tend to be representative by oxen. The idea goes much deeper.

The ox or bull is associated with the chief god of the Canaanites. To the Canaanites, he is Hadad, also know as Baal. The Babylonians called him Marduk. He is Zeus, or Jupiter in the Roman pantheon. He was the son of Kronos, Saturn in the Roman Pantheon. Kronos was the former king of the universe and king of Titans. He is the old god overruled by his son.

I hope you see how the mythology echoes what happened in the garden of God. In the realm of the fallen, the God you and I know as Jehovah is the old God, the bad guy.

But the fallen stories also name their version of the creator-god Bull El. He was their creator deity. He is known as the father of the gods, think Titans. The word titan comes from the name of an Amorite tribe called the Tidanu. Tidanu comes from the Akkadian word ditânu which means bison or bull.

It gets far worse. This Kronos, he consumed his children for fear they would usurp him. Kinda sounds like the argument many give as a reason why abortions should be available freely. Nevertheless, as their story goes… It’s a twisted version of the rebellion.

Kronos, Saturn, El has a sinister association with the Israelis. They would embrace him with the name Moloch. He was the god to whom Israelis sacrificed their children in frying pans.

It is not too difficult to understand how the Israelis were hornswoggled. The name El is used for this Canaanite deity and the Bible uses it for the Most High God. I think of it as the English word God, which when capitalized means the Most High and when not means lesser persons. El is also shorthand for Elohim, which can use the same rules.

What does all this mean?

Personally, I think there is a cherub that looks similar to oxen which is actively stealing worship from Jehovah God. It is by confusion, or perhaps a better word, delusion.

Bull imagery is not the exclusive expression of this god. The hexagon and the six-pointed star also serve as imagery of this god. Yeah, those are some old-timey conspiracy theories, right?

But hey, seriously… Red Bull gives you wings.

Everyone Who Calls on the Name of the Lord Shall be Saved

On By TimIn Jehovah, Romans 10, SalvationLeave a comment

For Moses writes about the righteousness which is based on the law: “The man who does those things shall live by them.” But the righteousness which is based on faith says, “Do not say in your heart, ‘Who will ascend into heaven?’ ” (that is, to bring Christ down), or, ‘Who will descend into the deep?’ ” (that is, to bring Christ up from the dead). But what does it say? “The word is near you, in your mouth and in your heart.” This is the word of faith that we preach: that if you confess with your mouth Jesus is Lord, and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved, for with the heart one believes unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation. For the Scripture says, “Whoever believes in Him will not be ashamed.”

Romans 10:5–11

In the passage from the epistle to the Romans, Paul cites Deuteronomy 30. He is contrasting two points. Two important things that are relevant to understand.

This commandment which I am commanding you today is not hidden from you, nor is it far off. It is not in heaven, that you should say, “Who will go up for us to heaven and bring it to us, so that we may hear it and do it?” It is not beyond the sea, so that you should say, “Who shall go over the sea for us and bring it to us, so that we may hear it and do it?” But the word is very near to you, in your mouth, and in your heart, so that you may do it.
See, today I have set before you life and prosperity, and death and disaster. What I am commanding you today is to love the Lord your God, to walk in His ways, and to keep His commandments and His statutes and His judgments, so that you may live and multiply. Then the Lord your God will bless you in the land which you go to possess.

Deuteronomy 30:11–16

Knowing context, this portion of the text from Moses follows the prophecy he gave of Israel being scattered among the nations for their disbelief. It comes in the promise of restoration. It is not a promise of entering the land from the Exodus.

We who are alive today are a privileged people. We witness the beginnings of this restoration. The return of the Jewish people to their homeland is happening now. It is not a return after the Exodus because they hadn’t yet arrived to the Promised Land from the Exodus. This is a prophecy of both diaspora and a return from it. As astute readers and by virtue of being alive today, we are extended both the privilege to witness it and participate in it during our lives.

Being drawn by God Himself, these disbelieving Israelis will be gathered into the land. They will become the all Israel that is saved when they believe.

As the text in Deuteronomy declares, the idea of believing is not just for a future time and place. In verse 11, Moses tells them that the commandment to believe is available to any whom would have it. They don’t have to go anywhere to get it. They don’t have to wait for some future date to be saved. The word is in their mouth. In other words, salvation doesn’t come by what one does, keeping law, the sprinkling of water on babies, or listening to some pastor. Salvation comes by personal acknowledgment of Jehovah God. A Kinsman Redeemer Who died and rose again, and a personal profession in Him.

Which is exactly what Paul cited in Romans 10. As he is speaking to his Jewish brothers in Rome. He is juxtaposing the inadequate righteousness that comes by law keeping with the Gospel. Keeping law doesn’t save. Believing the Gospel does. That is, salvation doesn’t come by law-keeping. It comes by personal belief and profession issuing forth the “treasures of the heart.”

 But if your heart turns away, so that you do not obey, but are drawn away, and worship other gods and serve them, then I declare to you today that you will surely perish and that you will not prolong your days in the land which you are crossing the Jordan to go in and possess.
I call heaven and earth to witnesses against you this day, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and curse. Therefore choose life, that both you and your descendants may live; that you may love the Lord your God, that you may obey His voice, and that you may cling to Him, for He is your life and the length of your days; and that you may dwell in the land that the Lord swore to your fathers, to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, to give them.

Deuteronomy 30:17–20

There are consequences to not believing. Some are temporal, but the worst is eternal. One dies in their sins. That is why Paul encourages everyone to call upon the name of the Lord.

For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek, for the same Lord over all is generous toward all who call upon Him. For, “Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved.”

Romans 10:12–13

The future of the world is Jewish. It will be ruled by a rightful Jewish King.

The Demons Believe and Tremble

On By TimIn Faith, James 02Leave a comment

You believe that there is one God; you do well. The demons also believe and tremble.

James 2:19

This is one of those often misunderstood and misapplied verses of the Bible. This is just like the misused idea from the epistle in Revelation 3 where Jesus likens the Church of Laeodicia as lukewarm. There are many that shame and browbeat believers with it. The same idea is true with this matriculate verse in James 2.

It is employed by some as a sort of proof that salvation doesn’t come by belief, when it isn’t speaking to that at all. Some use it to scare believers with loss of salvation. Others use it to shame believers they think haven’t repented in the right way.

None of those things apply in this verse. There is significant reason to demonstrate that.

First, demons have no Kinsman and no Redeemer. They are not eligible for salvation in any way. Their belief has nothing to do with salvation, because they can’t get that. Therefore, salvation isn’t in mind here at all.

Second, the ‘good works’ a demon does earn no merit. But then, demons don’t really do good works, so… A demon’s faith doesn’t lead to good behavior, either.

The importance of what James is saying is an exhortation. Your faith can save you and lead to good things. It is good that it does. James is encouraging believers to do good things.

He is not shaming them for the wrong kind of faith… As this is almost always applied.

But those demons believe and tremble… Why?

Well, as said before… Demons have no Kinsman nor Redeemer. Salvation isn’t for them. Their rebellion has sealed their fate, as sure as Jesus rose again. They know their end in perdition comes quickly.

But a believer’s doesn’t… Ever. On the other hand, an unbeliever will ultimately get the same end as a demon, unless they change their mind.

Don’t fall for the subtle Galatian heresy that one has to do good works commensurate with the law to be saved.

Vipers in Diapers

On By TimIn Children, Psalm 127Leave a comment

You’ve heard the line. You’ve probably laughed at it. Begging for a bit of indulgence to provide a short essay on what this quip entails and how unseemly it really is.

First, let’s understand exactly what Hod says children are.

Look, children are a gift of the Lord,
and the fruit of the womb is a reward.
As arrows in the hand of a mighty warrior,
so are the children of one’s youth.
Happy is the man
who has his quiver full of them;
he shall not be ashamed
when he speaks with the enemies at the gate.

Psalm 127:3–5

Children are a gift of God’s grace. They are not sinners. They are not wicked. They are not vipers in diapers.

I will tell you that I think that last saying borders on demonic blasphemy. Here why. When a baby cries, they are communicating in the only way that they can, their need for something. They do use spoken language as you and I do.

Whence did this subtle hatred for babies find its way into our Christian worldview?

I think it comes from a distortion of humanity, often labeled as total depravity. There is a sect of Christianity that teaches this as foundational. Total depravity comes from the Roman Catholic error of original sin. Total depravity is taught as total inability to do anything good. Which is derived from the original sin of Adam. Taught as guilt from Adam’s sin is on all humans.

Neither of those are true. Babies aren’t depraved. Nor are they sinners.

What has happened then?

Modern society embraces this subtle disdain for babies, which is really ancient. To many, children are not considered a heritage or symbol of God’s grace. They are instead labeled as burdensome and problematic. The prevalence and ease of abortion is symptomatic of this problem.

The perception of children as an annoyance and interruption is age-old. The idea goes back to Greek mythology and the Titans, specifically of one named Cronus. Cronus ate his children to keep them from overthrowing him. In essence, that is the predominant excuse people give for wanting abortions: “It’s going to mess up our lives.”

How selfish is that kind of thinking, eh?

Cronus is the Greek version of a god worshipped by the ancient Canaanites. That God had a name, Moloch. Scholarship is not in agreement on the name. But in Hebrew, words are consonantal with vowel markings ascribed for pronunciation. Moloch is from the Hebrew word mlk, which pronounced differently, can mean sacrifice. Mlk also means king, as in Amalek. Moloch demanded the sacrifice of children.

These sacrifices were so abhorrent, they were accompanied by loud drum beats and cadences. So that the father might not hear the cries of the infant being burned alive. Again, think of the connections to the modern practice of abortion, where fathers are protected from the brutal deaths of their heritage by having no say whatsoever!

This abhorrent practice is the epitome of selfishness.

Worse though, the same mentality has crept into Christianity. Using the rhyming quip seems to generate laughter and agreement. But is it indicative of a bigger problem?

I think so. One of injecting a serpent-like thought into the body of Christ that babies are a real problem. Crying babies are deemed selfish because their demands interfere in our doings.

Could that be why many seeming Christians champion abortion by their political party affiliation and actively vote to promote the detestable practice of abortion?

God said plainly that children are a blessing and a heritage from Him. How dare people say any different?

Babies are not an annoyance. They are not sinners. They are not vipers in diapers.

It is shocking to hear grown adults think and then say these things, let alone Christians. Though perhaps the silver lining is that there is a bit of smug satisfaction when they expose their own hypocrisy and selfishness.

Isn’t it demonic to stigmatize a gracious gift of heritage from God?