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Let’s see if I can get someone to condemn me as a heretic (again)…

In some previous posts, I have suggested that the term “inspiration of God” in 2 Timothy 3:16 could be understood as the “whisperings of God.”

In this post, I want to float out an idea which has been bouncing around in my head recently, and which I am submitting for your input and comment.

Is the Inspiration of God Only for a Select Few?

The way some people talk about the Bible, it seems that God’s whispering of truth was only heard by a small group of Middle Eastern men for a few brief centuries. In other words, since Moses began writing the Pentateuch (Genesis–Deuteronomy) around 1400 B.C. and since the last book of the Bible was written around 400 B.C., are we to believe that throughout all history and around the entire world, God was only whispering to a select few individuals for only a few brief centuries?

The Old Testament contains 39 books written by less than 30 men over the span of about 1000 years.

Did God only whisper truth to these few people who lived in a tiny section of the world for such a brief period of time?

Based on what we know about God, it is preposterous to think so.

God has communicated with many others

Even Scripture itself reveals that God was whispering truth to other people. Other than the universal revelation of God available to all people through creation and conscience, God was whispering truth to people who were not biblical authors.

Many of them were women (e.g., Miriam, Deborah, Ruth, Esther), and there are numerous hints within Scripture itself that God was whispering His truth to people who were not even Israelites (e.g., Melchizedek in Genesis 14:18-20; Balaam in Numbers 22–24).

It seems likely that if God was whispering truth to non-Israelite people like Melchizedek and Balaam, they He may also have been whispering truth to people whom we know nothing about.

For example, why couldn’t there have been men and women living in the Far East to whom God graciously whispered truth?

Why couldn’t there have been a Native American tribal leader to whom God whispered truth about His creative power and His dominion over all the earth?

Why couldn’t there have been a hardworking clansman from Northern Europe to whom God whispered truth about the origin of all things and the imminent arrival of One who would defeat evil once and for all?

This is not too hard to believe, is it?

If God truly is the God of all, then why would God not reveal more of Himself to people all over the world who responded to revelation He had already provided through creation and in their conscience?

In fact, Scripture seems to indicate that this is exactly what God was doing.

The Universal Inspiration of God

He placed eternity within the hearts of men (Eccl 3:11), and through dreams, visions, and other forms of special revelation, revealed Himself to people who were not yet “His people” (cf. Gen 14:18-20; Num 22–24; John 12:32; Acts 10:3-8; 16:9; 17:26-27).

Quite likely, many of these people saw that creation was red with tooth and claw and wondered what kind of deity would create such a place. Many of them, seeing the love and care that family members often showed for each other, wondered what such relational love among human taught us about the God who created humans. Many of them, looking at the innumerable stars, wondered about the power and glory of the God who created such beauty.

And it is not wrong, I think, to assume that in all these situations, God was there, through the universal presence of the Holy Spirit, whispering His truth to people who lived in all corners of the world. How could it be otherwise and God still be all-knowing, all-present, all-powerful, and all-loving? If God did not whisper truth to people who were seeking Him, what kind of God would He truly be?

Furthermore, what if some of these people to whom God whispered His truths wrote down the things they were seeing, thinking, and learning?

What if various people in Asia, as they contemplated the things they were seeing in nature and hearing in the whispers of God, wrote down what they were learning? Is that too far-fetched to believe?

What if someone in Northern Europe wrote down the stories, legends, and teachings that had been passed down from generation to generation—the stories about the struggle between good and evil and how a day was coming when good would ultimately triumph over evil? Is that so unlikely? In his book The Scapegoat, René Girard points out that the central themes of the Gospel Passion accounts are also found in all world mythologies (101).

The Universal Whisperings of God

It is this universal whispering of God to people all over the world and throughout time which can partially account for some of the similarities in ideas and belief systems for groups of people all around the world. In this way, all religion is a strange mix of God’s whisperings to mankind and mankind’s idolatry.

Though I would not go so far as to say that all religious writings are inspired by God, I think it is not too much to say that all religious writings derive in some way or another from people listening to what God whispers to their spirit.

In this way, we are not making the Bible less inspired as much as we are saying that other religious writings are more inspired than previously believed.

No, they are not inspired in the same way or to the same level as the biblical accounts, but in some way or another, other religious writings do contain wisdom, insights, and truths which God, by His Spirit, was whispering to people all around the world and throughout time. Sometimes what they wrote was a purely human invention, and sometimes what they wrote was demonic in origin, but if the Spirit of God moves where God wills, and if God’s will is to reveal Himself to all people around all the world and throughout all time, then who are we to say that God’s Spirit was not whispering truth to people in ancient Egypt, Greece, Norway, China, or North America?

Would it not make sense to assume that God was whispering to them as well, and that some of their legends, myths, and religious writings are based on what God was whispering to them? It seems entirely possible.

Please note this word of clarification: I AM NOT saying that the other religious books are inerrant. Not at all. There is a huge difference between people hearing what the Spirit is whispering to people all around the world on the one hand, and writing inerrant Scripture on the other. And as to the Spirit whispering truth to people all around the world, what is the problem with this? Doesn’t Jesus say as much in John 16:8?

The Bible is inspired in that it reveals what God was whispering to people who wrote Scripture, and to people in other parts of the world who were also responding to the revelation which they had received from God (whether it be through creation or conscience).

This does not mean that the Hebrew Scriptures are not unique in the world. They are. They are unique in numerous ways, four of which will be looked at in the next four posts.

Until then, am I off my rocker? Is this going “too far”? Or do you think it is possible that the “whisperings of God” as I have described it here might actually be more widespread than we Christians usually assume?

Sometimes all I can do is sigh…

By Jeremy Myers

28 Comments

Sigh…

How Satan Uses Religion to Cast out Satan

By Jeremy Myers

8 Comments

In Part 1 of this short series called “Satan Casts out Satan” we saw that although Satan stole dominion over the earth from Adam and Eve, Satan loves nothing more than to use violence to get rid of violence, and in so doing, consolidate and amplify his own power over the earth. One way he does this is through violent religion. This post looks a little more at this topic.

God’s Activity in Satan’s Dominion

God was not inactive during this endless cycle of Satan using religion to “cast out Satan.” He constantly sent messengers, individuals, people, and even nations in an attempt to spread light and love in this dark world. But it is in these instances where Satan’s power really worked. Satan loved nothing more than to use redemptive violence against those whom God had sent so that God’s messengers were killed in God’s name (Matt 21:33-46, 23:34-37). How did Satan do this? Through religion.

God’s message to the world has always been a message of grace, love, mercy, forgiveness, and acceptance. But Satan has always taken God’s message and perverted it so that it becomes a twisted set of rules, regulations, sacrifices, and laws by which mankind seeks to regain God’s love and favor.

But whenever God sent messengers and prophets to proclaim grace to the world, religion reared up to condemn God’s message of grace as false, heretical, contrary to God’s will, and of the devil. Then, having used religion to convert God’s messenger into a messenger of Satan, Satan used religious redemptive violence to kill and destroy God’s messenger in the name of God.

Satan turns God’s messenger into “Satan,” and then uses violent religion to destroy this newly minted “Satan.” It is in this way that Satan “casts out Satan,” and once again, protects and consolidates his own power in the world.

So by causing violence to be ascribed to God, and by using violent religion to “cast out Satan,” Satan had developed the perfect cycle of violence from which there seemed to be no escape. When bad things happened, it was God’s fault. And when God sent messengers to proclaim His truth and love, Satan vilified them until they too were killed in the name of God. This beautiful lie was perpetrated upon the world and carried out in plain view over and over and over since time began.

Satan Turned Religion against Jesus

But when Jesus arrived, He began to unmask the lie and pull back the curtains on Satan’s scheme. He told people what God was really like. He invited people to turn away from violence, and live in love and forgiveness. He set people free from sin, from darkness, from slavery, and from hate. He called people to a new way of living.

This, of course, was not something Satan could allow. It was not something Satan could permit. And so he resorted to the same ploy that had worked millions of times before. Every previous time that God had sent a messenger, Satan raised up religion to kill God’s messenger in God’s name. Satan did the same thing with Jesus, believing that such a plan would work as it always had before. He got religion to condemn Jesus as a son of Beelzebub, a blasphemer, an idolater, as one who was opposed to God and God’s Word. And then Satan got religion to kill Jesus in the name of God. Satan used religion to turn Jesus into a “Satan” so that religion could then kill Jesus in the name of God. Once again, Satan sought to “cast out Satan,” and thus solidify and consolidate his power even further.

And just as it had always done before, the plan worked beautifully.

Almost too beautifully.

One can almost feel the confusion of Satan in the end the Gospel accounts as Jesus, who has struggled and taught and healed against all the death and destruction and lies of the devil throughout His entire three years of ministry, now goes silently to the cross, like a lamb to the slaughter. Satan does not see the trap until it is too late.

For all of human history, Satan cast out Satan so that he might continually reinforce his own power, and reinsert himself into human structures and institutions, forever consolidating and expanding his own power and dominion over God’s creation. But when he tried it with Jesus, he failed to recognize that he was snatching defeat from the jaws of victory.

Jesus Beat Satan at his own Game

Jesus, of course, knew what Satan was about. This is why He asked earlier in His ministry: “How can Satan cast out Satan?” (Mark 3:23). Jesus asks this question, but never answers it. Why? Because the answer was the key to His victory over Satan. The initial answer to Jesus’ question seems to be that “Satan would not cast out himself. It would be foolish to do so. For if Satan cast out Satan, then his kingdom would crumble, his house would fall, and his power would come to an end.” But Jesus knew, as did Satan, that the key to Satan’s power was that Satan had been casting out Satan since the beginning of time, but blaming his violent overthrow upon God.

But in the crucifixion of Jesus, when Satan tries once again to use violent religion to “cast out Satan,” this time in the scapegoat of Jesus Christ, Satan did not realize that his plan would backfire.

When Satan attacked Jesus through the crucifixion, Satan believed he was conquering over Jesus and casting Jesus out of this world once and for all. But little did he know that Jesus, by submitting Himself as the willing scapegoat for all the violence, enmity, hatred, and evil of the world, was unmasking the power and dominion of Satan, and thus, defeating Satan even as Satan thought he was striking the victorious blow.

What do you think of this idea of Satan using religion to cast out Satan, which in reality, is nothing more than Satan using violence in the name of God to solidify his own power in this world? Include your own ideas in the comments below!

How can a God who says "Love your enemies" (Matthew 5:44) be the same God who instructs His people in the Old Testament to kill their enemies?

These are the sorts of questions we discuss and (try to) answer in my online discipleship group. Members of the group can also take ALL of my online courses (Valued at over $1000) at no charge. Learn more here: Join the RedeemingGod.com Discipleship Group I can't wait to hear what you have to say, and how we can help you better understand God and learn to live like Him in this world!

Satan Casts Out Satan

By Jeremy Myers

20 Comments

One of the great lies of Satan is in how he uses human institutions such as religion and politics to make it look like God uses violence to defeat violence. This is the great myth of redemptive violence, which is seen in almost every movie, story, and legend of history, as well as within every daily newspaper and every nightly news broadcast.

We have been taught that violence is the best way to defeat violence. This is the myth of redemptive violence.

But more than that, divinely sanctioned violence is the most successful, and can even be carried out in the name of God. But Jesus reveals in His life and ministry, and especially through His death and resurrection, the true emptiness of redemptive violence. He unmasks Satan’s lie of redemptive violence for all the world to see.

Although really, as it turned out, it was Satan himself who, in crucifying Jesus, unwittingly revealed his lie to the world. The trap that Satan had set for Jesus turned out to be a trap that Jesus had laid for Satan. This is why Paul says that if Satan had known that the death of Jesus would be his undoing, he never would have crucified the Lord of glory (1 Cor 2:8). In blaming God and finally crucifying God, Satan thought he was winning; but the death blow he dealt upon Jesus turned out to be his own. By using the power of Satan, Jesus defeated Satan, which in reality, turned out to be Satan causing his own defeat.

Satan Stole Dominion Over the Earth

It all began in the Garden of Eden. When Adam and Eve were created by God, they were given dominion over the earth. But when they sinned in the Garden, they effectively handed this dominion over to Satan. He did not steal the dominion; it was freely given to him. As a result, he now became the ruler of this age, the god of this world (John 12:31, 14:30, 16:11; 2 Cor 4:4).

Due to the nature of the dominion which God had given to Adam, God could not simply take back the dominion now that it had been handed over to Satan. God had freely given it to Adam, and Adam had freely given to Satan. The only way for God (or mankind) to get the dominion back from Satan was if Satan freely gave it back, which he was never going to do. Satan had wanted to be like God, and in gaining dominion over the earth, he became a god. Satan had an iron grip on this world, and he ruled it ruthlessly and with all dominion, power, and authority.

Under Satan’s rule, darkness, terror, death, and chaos reigned. If you have read Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings trilogy (or seen the movies), imagine what life would be like in Middle Earth if Sauron had been able to obtain the One Ring, the ring of power. The reason that Gandalf and the races of Middle Earth sought to stop Sauron from regaining the ring is because they did not want their world to plunge into eternal death and chaos. But in the biblical account, this is exactly what happened when Adam handed dominion over to Satan.

Satan Blamed God for Satanic Violence

But Satan was not content just to rule by spreading darkness and terror. He wanted to get humanity to blame God for all the evil that happened in this world, and in so doing, solidify his own power even more. How did Satan do this? He used the myth of redemptive violence. He got people to believe that when evil people rose to power, whether their power was over a single person or an entire country, violence was required to overthrow that evil. And yet almost without fail, when the new rulers rose to power, they became more oppressive than the oppressors they overthrew.

In this way, the cycle continued endlessly.

Satan raised up oppressive and tyrannical individuals, governments, and religious institutions so that he might later raise up “righteous liberators” who would violently overthrow the oppressive regimes, but in so doing, become more oppressive and tyrannical than those who preceded them. Those who had power reigned with violent methods and those who came into power did so with violence. Almost always in human history, when the persecuted rise up in violence to overthrow the persecutors, it did not take long before the persecuted become the persecutors.

In this way, Satan “casts out Satan,” and thus endlessly consolidated and amplified his own power.

We will look more at this idea tomorrow. Until then, what do you think of the idea laid out above? Do you think that Satan uses violence to make it look like God is defeating Satan, when in reality, it is Satan “casting out Satan” so that it appears that God is defeating him?

How can a God who says "Love your enemies" (Matthew 5:44) be the same God who instructs His people in the Old Testament to kill their enemies?

How do I stop sinning?

By Jeremy Myers

63 Comments

Below is another question that was sent in by a reader. He wants to know how to stop sinning.

Don’t we all!

Below his question I have included the answer I sent to him, but I am sure he would like for you to weigh in as well. As always, be gracious in your replies.

I need your advice. I was saved in 2005 and really pursued God and got close to Him. I have a reputation in my town and with my family as a big Christian. God used my to witness and that made people form the opinion of me. I have been living for him off and on. Finally the other night I drank some alcohol and slept with a girl. Now sometimes I feel awful. I feel like the biggest hypocrite alive. And I’m afraid if people found out it would discredit God. I used to live a life of integrity and had boldness. Now I am often reminded of what I have done and feel less than bold.

Thank you for any advice.

P.S. I know that you are very big on believing God always finishes His work in us. So my question is what do I do when I sin? I know it can’t be OK and fine to live in sin and claim to be a Christian. How do I get my confidence before God back by not sinning for a long time? That doesn’t seem right. And lastly if I try and witness I am reminded of my own sin so I lose confidence.

This is a very difficult question, as I know almost nothing about your situation, your beliefs, or your background.

But let me suggest this: It sounds to me like you are trapped in religion. It may be the Christian religion, but it is still religion.

One prominent sign of religion is the desire to live a certain way to give an impression to others that we are godly and spiritual.

We hide from others who we really are, and we never let them see our mistakes, our failures, or our weaknesses.

There are other indicators of religion as well, such as the desire to keep God happy with us through our obedience and the pressure to live by a set of rules and standards that keep us in good standing with others in our religious group.

I could go on and on about religion, but that is not going to helpful for you right now. You want to learn how to stop sinning.

Here are my recommendations:

Learning to live the victorious Christian life is based on three things:

1. Honesty with God about who you are

Most sin comes from a failure to be honest with ourselves and with God about our own weaknesses and mistakes. We often try to put on a good show for God and others, hiding from them the real struggles that we face.

But if we are not honest with God about our struggles, then we will never be able to receive help from Him.

Though it may sound trite, confessing your sin to God is the beginning point of gaining freedom from that sin (and the guilt that comes with it). See 1 John 1:9-10.

Then every time you struggle with sin, with temptation, or even find yourself in the midst of sin, be honest with God about it.

There have been times when I have been in the midst of some sin, and I look at what I am doing and in the midst of that sin, pray, saying, “God … what am I doing?” Almost always, it seems to me that God says back, “Yeah … I was wondering the same thing.”

And then we are able to have a conversation about that sin, why I fell into the trap, and what I got out of it. Usually, such open and honest conversations with God help me resist the temptation when it comes at a later time.

Remember, God is not shocked, surprised, or ashamed of your sin. He walks with us through our sin because He wants to help rescue us from our sin.

As we are open and honest with God about our sin — even in the midst of the sin — we begin to understand that God is not scared off by our sin, nor is He shocked, surprised, or ashamed when we sin. God wants us to invite Him into our sin, not so that He can participate with us, but so that He can rescue us from it.

Living this way will help with my second recommendation.

2. Knowledge that God loves and forgives you NO MATTER WHAT

As we are honest with God about our sin, we will come to see that God loves us and forgives us no matter what.

Religion often teaches us that God’s forgiveness has a limit. But if Jesus tells us to forgive those who sin against us 490 times (which means … don’t even count, just always forgive), don’t you think that God Himself does the same thing toward us?

Infinite grace, love, and forgiveness is not a license to sin as many Christians assume, but is the starting place of learning to live without sin. Sin loses all its power when we realize that sin will not cause God to love us any less.

Learning to live in God’s love is essential to learning to beat sin and temptation.

While we cannot become sinless, by focusing on the love of God, we can learn to sin less.

3. Believe that as you are honest with God and rest in His love, He will conform you to Jesus Christ

When we are honest with God and learn to rest in God’s love, these two things allow God to begin to work in us in ways that we were trying to do in our own strength previously. When we are focused on a list of do’s and don’ts, and behaviors and actions that we must practice for God to love us and forgive us, we are trying to live life on our own strength. If we are successful, we become self-righteous and proud. If we fail, we become depressed and desperate.

But when we are honest with God, and know that He is with us, loves us, and forgives us, it is from this place of resting in God’s love that He begins to perform His work within us. It takes time, to be sure, but God’s will can only be done in God’s time.

So those are my three recommendations.

Notice that I am not telling you to broadcast to your town and your family about what you have done. Some Christians would tell you do this, but I won’t. It might be important for you to make a public confession, but it might not. That is something between you and God. I think that as you incorporate the three recommendations above, God will make it clear to you how He wants you to proceed regarding your sin.

Let me say one thing though about your lack of boldness and confidence. I might be wrong, but it appears that your boldness came from your ability to be a good Christian. Now that you have failed, you no longer have the self-righteous pride you did before, and so lack the boldness. This is actually a very good thing. In that sense, praise God for the good work He is already accomplishing in your life as a result of your failure. We must not ever be confident in ourselves, but confident in God and His grace. How do you gain this confidence in Him? Through the three recommendations above.

Oh, and one last thing. As I was searching for images for this post, I found the two images below:

I laughed a bit because of the internet memes these images come from, but the images gets it right. One does not simply stop sinning. And we can wish to stop sinning and try to stop sinning all we want, but sin will be a constant reality this side of glory, and the sooner we learn that fact, the better. Again, this is not a license to sin, but an invitation to invite God into our sin, and let Him deal with it as only He can.

I hope this helps a little bit. Hopefully some of the comments below will be helpful as well.

The Bible is Inspired … And so are other religious writings (Wait … What?!)

Is the Inspiration of God Only for a Select Few?

God has communicated with many others

The Universal Inspiration of God

The Universal Whisperings of God

Sometimes all I can do is sigh…

How Satan Uses Religion to Cast out Satan

God’s Activity in Satan’s Dominion

Satan Turned Religion against Jesus

Jesus Beat Satan at his own Game

Satan Casts Out Satan

Satan Stole Dominion Over the Earth

Satan Blamed God for Satanic Violence

How do I stop sinning?

1. Honesty with God about who you are

2. Knowledge that God loves and forgives you NO MATTER WHAT

3. Believe that as you are honest with God and rest in His love, He will conform you to Jesus Christ

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