Clarion: Journal of Spirituality and Justice

DOES THE BIBLE REVEAL A GOD WHO KILLS? Richard Murray

DOES THE BIBLE REVEAL A GOD WHO KILLS? 

Rather than starting from the Old Testament and working forward, we need to start from the more illuminated New Testament and work backward. 

This really has more to do with us a better recognizing the New Covenant SPIRIT rather than the Old Testament LETTER, or, put another way, the spiritual fingerprints of Jesus versus the spiritual fingerprints of Satan. 

This is scripturally true regardless of whether we consider the devil a dark angelic “who,” OR instead as a dark dynamical “what”. Whoever or whatever the devil is, the term Satan symbolizes the dark energies which are untethered from the divine will and work death, fear, hostility, condemnation, accusation, and oppression within this Earth realm. 

Jesus came to destroy the works of Satan, not utilize them, and to reveal to us that do NOT come from the Father (1 John 1:3).Satan is the killing source, not God. (John 10:10). Satan is the "murderer from the beginning," not God. (John 8:44). Hebrews 2:14-15 says Satan has the "power of death," NOT God. 1 Corinthians 15 lists "death" as an "enemy" of God, not a friendly force He uses. In other words, Jesus simply doesn't kill. Death is not in His nature. Let's start from the New Covenant Jesus and work backward to the Old Covenant view of God as killer. 

Jesus reveals a God who NEVER kills, and never orders us to kill. But, in wrongly reading OT Scripture "by the letter," which Paul says in 2 Corinthians 3:6 to NEVER do, for "the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life," one could say God kills and tells many others like Joshua and Saul to kill whole tribes of women, babies and men.

But reading the Sermon on the Mount in Matthew 5:38-48 we are told in the last verse to "Therefore be perfect as our heavenly Father is perfect." What is the "Therefore" there for? The previous 10 verses tell us what the Father's perfection is--- to turn the other cheek toward our enemies, to bless those who curse us and despitefully use us, to pray for our enemies rather than kill them, to go the extra mile and give the extra coat. Just like the Lord blesses the just and the unjust with needed rain and energizing sunlight, the Father doesn't kill His enemies, but instead overcomes them with good. Romans 12:21.

So, as "able ministers of the New Covenant,"(2 Corinthians 3:6), if we read the Old Testament with the New Testament Spirit, which always gives life, we will see that it was Satan, always Satan, masquerading as an agent of God, who either kills or orders us to kill. 

The Old Testament had an UNDIFFERENTIATED view of God and Satan. The writers were not aware that Satan was an enemy of God. They thought he was an obedient angel of God, the Lord's "left hand" of wrath so to speak. So often, when the OT says "God said," it could refer to EITHER God or Satan saying it BECAUSE the OT Jews believed they were both just displaying different parts of God's nature. But, Jesus came to declare and differentiate the works of His Father from the works of Satan. Satan's death and destructions are NOT of God. Jesus came to destroy the works of Satan, not to claim them as His own. 1 John 3:8.

Simply put, the Old Testament was written from a perspective which saw Satan as an angel with a tough job, but who ultimately was just following the Lord's orders. Jesus, in contrast, revealed in His teachings and tone that Satan was violently OPPOSED to His Father's will RATHER than humbly submitted to it. Read most any Jewish religious reference material on Satan, and you will see they believe that Satan was the death angel who smote all the Egyptian firstborn, supposedly at the Lord's command. 

And not just the Egyptians. Jewish orthodoxy still largely believes that Satan is the grim reaper who ultimately kills all men at God's sole command. The book of Job shows Satan kills with sickness ("boils"), with nature ("a great wind"), with other violent men ("Sabeans with swords"), and with supernatural power ("fire from heaven"). Satan is a master assassin who kills a million different ways, but always, the Jews believe, at the express command of God. Jesus came in the New Testament to correct that view as error by revealing Satan to be a cosmic rebel, liar and murderer fro the beginning rather than an obedient angel merely fulfilling his purpose in creation.

As THE ENCYCLOPEDIA OF JEWISH CONCEPTS by Philip Birnbaum says, "Satan...is...identified with the angel of death. He leads astray, then he brings accusations against man, whom he slays eventually. His chief functions are those of temptation, accusation and punishment. Under the control of God, he acts solely with the divine permission to carry out his plots." (Sanhedrin Press, page 594). Rabbi Benjamin Blech similarly writes, "Judaism sees Satan as a servant of God whose function is to set up choices between good and evil so that we can exercise our free will.... [His] apparent harshness is merely camouflage for divine concern and love." IF GOD IS SO GOOD, WHY IS THE WORLD SO BAD? Simcha Press, pages 7-9.

In the New Testament, we get a significantly different picture. While Hebrews 2:14-15 confirms that Satan, as "the devil," does indeed have "the power of death," Jesus' purpose in bearing the cross was to "deliver them who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage." Put even more bluntly in this passage, Jesus ascended the cross in order to "destroy him that had the power of death, that is, the devil." 

Jesus came to destroy the works of the destroyer. 1 John 3:8. But Jesus destroyed them not with His "alleged" counter-wrath, but with His sacrificial love. Jesus came to reveal that all forms of "death" and "violence" were enemies of God and never a part of His divine nature. 1 Corinthians 15:25-28 defines the dynamic of "death" as an "enemy" of God to be "put under His feet" until it's "destroyed."

So, if the Old Testament saints were confused and not able to differentiate the purposes of Satan and God, what does this imply about their ability to distinguish between the voices of God and the devil? Well, it allows for the absolute mother of all mistaken identities--- confusing the voices of God and Satan--- or, just as tragic, mistakenly combining their TWO voices into ONE bipolar voice. 

Like a high static radio, which sometimes receives two different signals at once, the Old Testament saints were hearing from both Yahweh and Satan, sometimes alternatively, and sometimes simultaneously. Without the indwelling Holy Spirit, they could not distinguish between both voices, again just like a radio receiving two different stations although the dial is only on one setting. The Old Testament saints assumed both voices were from God, that both WERE God. 

But, Jesus came to correct all misunderstandings about His Father. We have the anointing, BECAUSE of Jesus, to go back and properly divide Scripture, just like He did in Matthew 5:38-48. Jesus came to reveal His Father's light and Satan's darkness, something the Old Testament saints were clueless about. John 1:18.

DOES THE BIBLE REVEAL A GOD WHO KILLS? Richard Murray

DOES THE BIBLE REVEAL A GOD WHO KILLS? 

Rather than starting from the Old Testament and working forward, we need to start from the more illuminated New Testament and work backward. 

This really has more to do with us a better recognizing the New Covenant SPIRIT rather than the Old Testament LETTER, or, put another way, the spiritual fingerprints of Jesus versus the spiritual fingerprints of Satan. 

This is scripturally true regardless of whether we consider the devil a dark angelic “who,” OR instead as a dark dynamical “what”. Whoever or whatever the devil is, the term Satan symbolizes the dark energies which are untethered from the divine will and work death, fear, hostility, condemnation, accusation, and oppression within this Earth realm. 

Jesus came to destroy the works of Satan, not utilize them, and to reveal to us that do NOT come from the Father (1 John 1:3).Satan is the killing source, not God. (John 10:10). Satan is the "murderer from the beginning," not God. (John 8:44). Hebrews 2:14-15 says Satan has the "power of death," NOT God. 1 Corinthians 15 lists "death" as an "enemy" of God, not a friendly force He uses. In other words, Jesus simply doesn't kill. Death is not in His nature. Let's start from the New Covenant Jesus and work backward to the Old Covenant view of God as killer. 

Jesus reveals a God who NEVER kills, and never orders us to kill. But, in wrongly reading OT Scripture "by the letter," which Paul says in 2 Corinthians 3:6 to NEVER do, for "the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life," one could say God kills and tells many others like Joshua and Saul to kill whole tribes of women, babies and men.

But reading the Sermon on the Mount in Matthew 5:38-48 we are told in the last verse to "Therefore be perfect as our heavenly Father is perfect." What is the "Therefore" there for? The previous 10 verses tell us what the Father's perfection is--- to turn the other cheek toward our enemies, to bless those who curse us and despitefully use us, to pray for our enemies rather than kill them, to go the extra mile and give the extra coat. Just like the Lord blesses the just and the unjust with needed rain and energizing sunlight, the Father doesn't kill His enemies, but instead overcomes them with good. Romans 12:21.

So, as "able ministers of the New Covenant,"(2 Corinthians 3:6), if we read the Old Testament with the New Testament Spirit, which always gives life, we will see that it was Satan, always Satan, masquerading as an agent of God, who either kills or orders us to kill. 

The Old Testament had an UNDIFFERENTIATED view of God and Satan. The writers were not aware that Satan was an enemy of God. They thought he was an obedient angel of God, the Lord's "left hand" of wrath so to speak. So often, when the OT says "God said," it could refer to EITHER God or Satan saying it BECAUSE the OT Jews believed they were both just displaying different parts of God's nature. But, Jesus came to declare and differentiate the works of His Father from the works of Satan. Satan's death and destructions are NOT of God. Jesus came to destroy the works of Satan, not to claim them as His own. 1 John 3:8.

Simply put, the Old Testament was written from a perspective which saw Satan as an angel with a tough job, but who ultimately was just following the Lord's orders. Jesus, in contrast, revealed in His teachings and tone that Satan was violently OPPOSED to His Father's will RATHER than humbly submitted to it. Read most any Jewish religious reference material on Satan, and you will see they believe that Satan was the death angel who smote all the Egyptian firstborn, supposedly at the Lord's command. 

And not just the Egyptians. Jewish orthodoxy still largely believes that Satan is the grim reaper who ultimately kills all men at God's sole command. The book of Job shows Satan kills with sickness ("boils"), with nature ("a great wind"), with other violent men ("Sabeans with swords"), and with supernatural power ("fire from heaven"). Satan is a master assassin who kills a million different ways, but always, the Jews believe, at the express command of God. Jesus came in the New Testament to correct that view as error by revealing Satan to be a cosmic rebel, liar and murderer fro the beginning rather than an obedient angel merely fulfilling his purpose in creation.

As THE ENCYCLOPEDIA OF JEWISH CONCEPTS by Philip Birnbaum says, "Satan...is...identified with the angel of death. He leads astray, then he brings accusations against man, whom he slays eventually. His chief functions are those of temptation, accusation and punishment. Under the control of God, he acts solely with the divine permission to carry out his plots." (Sanhedrin Press, page 594). Rabbi Benjamin Blech similarly writes, "Judaism sees Satan as a servant of God whose function is to set up choices between good and evil so that we can exercise our free will.... [His] apparent harshness is merely camouflage for divine concern and love." IF GOD IS SO GOOD, WHY IS THE WORLD SO BAD? Simcha Press, pages 7-9.

In the New Testament, we get a significantly different picture. While Hebrews 2:14-15 confirms that Satan, as "the devil," does indeed have "the power of death," Jesus' purpose in bearing the cross was to "deliver them who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage." Put even more bluntly in this passage, Jesus ascended the cross in order to "destroy him that had the power of death, that is, the devil." 

Jesus came to destroy the works of the destroyer. 1 John 3:8. But Jesus destroyed them not with His "alleged" counter-wrath, but with His sacrificial love. Jesus came to reveal that all forms of "death" and "violence" were enemies of God and never a part of His divine nature. 1 Corinthians 15:25-28 defines the dynamic of "death" as an "enemy" of God to be "put under His feet" until it's "destroyed."

So, if the Old Testament saints were confused and not able to differentiate the purposes of Satan and God, what does this imply about their ability to distinguish between the voices of God and the devil? Well, it allows for the absolute mother of all mistaken identities--- confusing the voices of God and Satan--- or, just as tragic, mistakenly combining their TWO voices into ONE bipolar voice. 

Like a high static radio, which sometimes receives two different signals at once, the Old Testament saints were hearing from both Yahweh and Satan, sometimes alternatively, and sometimes simultaneously. Without the indwelling Holy Spirit, they could not distinguish between both voices, again just like a radio receiving two different stations although the dial is only on one setting. The Old Testament saints assumed both voices were from God, that both WERE God. 

But, Jesus came to correct all misunderstandings about His Father. We have the anointing, BECAUSE of Jesus, to go back and properly divide Scripture, just like He did in Matthew 5:38-48. Jesus came to reveal His Father's light and Satan's darkness, something the Old Testament saints were clueless about. John 1:18.

When the Old & New Testaments *Literally* Clash - Richard Murray

What are we to do when the Old and New Testaments "appear" to LITERALLY clash in meaning?

Here are a few examples.

The New Testament says Satan is the destroyer who wields "the power of death," NOT God. Hebrews 2:14-15. 

The Old Testament, by contrast, says God alone holds the power of death. Deuteronomy 32:39; Psalm 90.

Both can't LITERALLY (by the dead letter) be right. 

The New Testament says Satan is the afflicter and oppressor of men, not God, never God. Acts 10:38; John 10:10. 

The Old Testament says that God alone is the ultimate oppressor and afflicter of men. Deuteronomy 28:15-68; Psalm 90; Job 1:21.

Both can't LITERALLY (by the dead letter) be right. 

The New Testament teaches "God is light and in Him is no darkness at all" and that He has no connection to "evil" whatsoever, and to let no man say" otherwise, not even Old Testament men. 1 John 1:5; James 1:13-17. 

The Old Testament LITERALLY says God DOES have darkness within Him and that He IS the author and doer of evil. Amos 3:6; Isaiah 45:7.

Both can't LITERALLY (by the dead letter) be right. 

The New Testament says that ONLY good and non-harmful gifts come down from the Father of Lights in whom there is no shadow of turning. James 1:16-17; Luke 11:10-13. 

The Old Testament LITERALLY says God "delights" to afflict us with "marvelous...plagues,...  enemies, ...famines, ...destructions...and many other curses." God happily sends these oppressions directly our way straight from His wrathful hand until we are "utterly destroyed." Deuteronomy 28:15-68; Psalm 91.

Both can't LITERALLY (by the dead letter) be right. 

I could go on and on. The issue here is that the Old Testament had an undifferentiated view of God. They wrongly believed, due to their developmental limitations, that Satan was God's "angry voice," His "left hand of wrath," His "obedient servant angel" who was merely carrying out God's express commands to tempt, punish and eventually kill all men.

But the above view is not at all consistent with New Testament teaching regarding Satan (regardless of whether we consider the devil a dark angel OR a dark dynamic working within the corporate psyche of humanity). 

Satan is NOT fulfilling God's will, but OPPOSING it on every level. New Testament Scripture proclaims Satan a cosmic rebel, the accuser of the brethren, the tempter, a liar, a murderer from the beginning, the destroyer, a thief, a devouring lion, the god of this world, and the prince of the power of the air. Jesus came to destroy Satan's works, not implement them (1 John 3:8). Jesus came to fully differentiate His Father's nature from Satan's nature. He came to cull away and forever sever all Satanic attributes which had been wrongly attributed to His Abba's character by the OT saints. 

The early church fathers recognized these sometimes conflicting ideologies between the Old Testament and the New Testament. The fathers certainly encouraged us to not always read OT passages literally. They believed that Scriptures had to be illuminated by the Holy Spirit before their deeper meanings could rightly be understood. 

Even though there were on occasion some "literal" misstatements in the OT due to their developmental limitations from not being indwelt by the New Covenant Pentecostal Spirit, what they wrote was nonetheless of great value. But, their writings just had to be excavated, elevated and renovated  to comport with the "better" understanding of the New Testament revelation.

Here is the perfect example. God confessed in Isaiah 13:3-18, in the first person no less, to wrathfully causing: a nation of women to be raped, a nation of infants to be executed by smashing them all to pieces against rocks, a nation of children to be mercilessly impaled with arrows, and, finally, a nation of men to be executed by the sword. 

To claim that Jesus (or His beloved Abba) were rapists would, of course, be blasphemy. 

And yet, and yet, and yet----- Isaiah 13:3-18 says (quoting God in the first person) that God's 'burning wrath' DOES do all this pillaging, raping, and killing. 

So what's the point? Merely this. If you won't accept the 'rape confession' as coming from the lips of Jesus, then don't dare accept any OTHER Old Testament quote as coming directly from Jesus' lips IF it portrays His Father as being a plague-sending, famine-bringing, fire-flinging, bone-crushing, child-drowning, throat-slitting, homicidal, genocidal, and infanticidal God.

However, if you ARE a strict Biblical literalist, then you must believe that God's 'burning wrath' 'hunts' us down and directly CAUSES: 

--women to be raped, 

--infants to be dashed to pieces against the rocks, 

--children to be impaled by arrows

--houses to be looted

'I MYSELF...SUMMONED MY WARRIORS ...to EXECUTE MY ANGER....The LORD of hosts IS MUSTERING AN ARMY FOR BATTLE. They come from a distant land...the LORD AND THE WEAPONS OF HIS INDIGNATION, to DESTROY THE WHOLE EARTH. Wail, for the day of the Lord is near; it will come like DESTRUCTION FROM THE ALMIGHTY!....See, the DAY OF THE LORD COMES, CRUEL, WITH WRATH AND FIERCE ANGER, to make the earth a desolation, and to DESTROY ITS SINNERS from it....I WILL PUNISH THE WORLD for its evil, and the wicked for their iniquity.... I will make mortals more rare than fine gold....Therefore I will make the heavens tremble, and the earth will be shaken out of its place, at THE WRATH OF THE LORD of hosts in the day of his fierce anger. Like a hunted gazelle, or like sheep with no one to gather them, all will turn to their own people, and all will flee to their own lands. Whoever is found will be THRUST THROUGH, and whoever is caught will fall by the SWORD. Their INFANTS will be DASHED TO PIECES before their eyes; their HOUSES will be PLUNDERED, and their WIVES RAVISHED. See, I AM STIRRING UP the Medes AGAINST them, who have no regard for silver and do not delight in gold. Their BOWS will SLAUGHTER the YOUNG men; they will have NO MERCY on the FRUIT of the WOMB; their eyes WILL NOT PITY CHILDREN.' Isaiah 13:3-18. 

The above statement literally claims to be the Lord talking in first person, so we can't say anybody else is exaggerating or misstating His character. Nor can we cop out by saying that God was just this way on this one occasion because the Lord 'changes not.' (Malachi 3:6). Either this 'baby bashing brutality' and 'man-smashing malice' and 'woman-raping evil' is in His nature now and forever-- or it isn't-- it's that simple.

Will literalists own this passage and just declare that God's burning wrath makes Him a child-killing, rape-committing, man-impaling killer? Or, will they continue to hide behind silly euphemisms that these brutal acts are just part of God's 'mysterious ways,' His 'higher ways,' His 'justice and holiness' being dispensed?

Do we really want to go here, to this dark corner of primitive savagery? I think not. 

Instead, let's choose a better hermeneutic. Let's choose Jesus as our hermeneutic. His flawless nature is written in all our consciences, waiting to be consulted and catalyzed into love. 

Don't let literalism kill your conscience. Those who loosen their 'death-grip' on Scripture will surely find their 'life-grip' on the Spirit of love and light."

Had enough yet? There are MANY, MANY, examples. So, what is the reason for these misstatements about God's character?  

All the violence, plagues, killings, oppressions, curses, afflictions, destructions and damning which the Old Testament says comes from GOD must NOW be re-evaluated with New Testament light. We must look at the particular Old Testament passage which is attributing "evil" to GOD and ask if it is referring to THE GOD OF THIS WORLD or is it referring to THE GOD OF OUR LORD JESUS.

The problem was that the Old Testament had an “undifferentiated" view of God. They lumped Satan into their image of Yahweh. They simply did not differentiate God from the Devil in any meaningful way. 

The result? A bipolar God who is up and down, good and evil, hateful and loving, cruel and gentle, vengeful and forgiving, murderous and peaceful.

The Old Testament certainly has many accurate and priceless versions of the wondrous acts of the true Yahweh, THE GOD OF OUR LORD JESUS. The Old Testament frequently reflects the riches of Jesus' love, virtue, blessing, mercy, miracles and generosity. 

But, not always. Too often, because they are largely clueless about Satan's identity, the Old Testament mars and deforms the image of God by attributing the works of Satan to God.

Jesus came to heal and reveal. He came to heal our image of a wrathful and hateful God by revealing His Father-God to be ALL love and ALL light. 

Jesus came to teach us how to differentiate the works of the true God from the works of Satan. 

Jesus IS that dynamic differentiation. 

Satan, as the FALLEN GOD (or dark cosmic sickness) afflicting this WORLD, operates in all forms of stealing, killing and destroying. 

God, on the other hand, as fully revealed by the RISEN CHRIST of the RISEN FATHER, operates only in forms of life --- the giving of it, the protection of it, the blessing of it! John 10:10.

If it’s not good it’s not God.

“And Jesus Closed the Book” - Richard Murray

Here is a radical idea: sometimes we need to CLOSE the Bible and BEHOLD God. 

"And He [Jesus] CLOSED the book...and sat down. And the eyes of all... were fastened on Him. And He began to say to them, “This day is this Scripture fulfilled in your ears.” And all bore Him witness and wondered at the gracious words which proceeded out of His mouth."

Jesus here in Luke 4:17-22 declares that He, in their immediate midst, IS the fulfillment of the messianic promise of Isaiah. This promise stated that messiah would be anointed to preach the gospel to the poor, that He would heal the brokenhearted, preach deliverance to the captives, and recovery of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised, and to preach the year of favor from the Lord.

But, before Jesus manifested this incredible truth, He first had to CLOSE THE BOOK. This allowed every eye to focus solely on Him. The Bible needed to be closed so it would not be a distraction from relating to the manifest presence of God right THEN and THERE.

The Bible is meant to be a launching pad which thrusts us into ACTUAL Heavenly interactions with the presence of God, just like it occurred here. 

But, if we keep the book frantically open all the time, our attention will be divided, continually racing, and we will never be able to fully relate to the God who sits down and speaks gracious words to our hearts and minds all the day long. We can be so legalistically chained to the book that we will never be able to wholeheartedly set our spiritual eyes on the God of here and now---- and therefrom listen and behold His grace with a single eye.

The Bible is wonderful, profitable and vital in countless ways, BUT it is not Jesus. Jesus is Jesus. The Bible, when used properly, will always promptly point us to a direct encounter with Jesus by first closing the book, and then listening to the Holy Spirit's inner glowings, showings, and knowings as they are quickened to our inner beings. 

The Bible becomes much more special whenever we do open it, if we also remember that it is just as important to close it for a time so that we can allow the ministry of direct Spiritual encounter to occur. 

Allowing the Scriptural promises to blossom this way into direct encounter with the Lord is what it's all about.

One last point, after Jesus closed the book declaring that the Isaiah passage was fulfilled in Him THAT very moment, the crowd’s response was to try to hurl Jesus off a cliff. 

They failed. 

And the crowd might want to suggest the same fate for us when we suggest that sometimes closing the book is needed to open our eyes. Their wanting to frantically keep the book perpetually open was actually an deadened excuse to keep their spiritual eyes closed to the living truth.

The Nonviolent God Is No Mere Projection — Richard Murray

Sometimes I hear the concern from critics that those who advocate for the non-violent nature of God are just projecting their own ideas and desires onto God.

But, here is the thing. Left to my own nature and personality, I definitely AM an eye-for-an-eye guy. I grew up wrestling in school and fighting in bars. I both drew blood and lost blood. So, my own natural bent toward reactionary violence is quite honed, hostile and ever-ready. And, engaging in the verbally violent cross-examinations that practicing law demands has done nothing but show me how to even more effectively shred people who are attacking my clients. 

But, when I first recognized 25 years ago that Jesus lives within me, and that He wanted to transform my heart, things changed. The God who turns the other cheek at my sin-- bar none, has also called me to do the same toward all others-- bar none. And by turning the other cheek, He doesn't ignore the sin at all. Rather, Jesus deals with it directly by overcoming all-evil with all-good.

"Turn the other cheek, walk the extra mile, give the extra garment, love your enemy, pray for those who despitefully use you, THAT you may be sons of your Father in Heaven, for our loving God sends bountiful rain and replenishing sunlight on both the good and the evil, the just and the unjust, THEREFORE be ye perfect AS as your Heavenly Father is perfect." Matthew 5:38-48.

My point is that it's counter-intuitive and contrary, at least in my case,  for my nature and personality to project non-violent attributes onto God. For me to advocate a non-violent image of God is not projection at all since I am not that way by inclination. Projection is a psychological transference of our OWN qualities or faults onto our image of another. In fact, in a way, its Jesus who is projecting His own divine qualities ONTO and INTO us. And that's a good thing.

“23 Minutes in Hell” or “23 Minutes in Fear?” Richard Murray

“23 Minutes in Hell” or “23 Minutes in Fear?”

Regarding those who claim to have had mystical and near death experiences regarding visitations to hell, I have no doubt many of them had heartfelt experiences. 

But, I also believe that what we have erroneously been taught to fear about hell can also allow for distorted, strange, and angst-ridden visions to result. And as to what testimony we should receive as personally authoritative, we each have to follow our spirit-quickened consciences of course. 

But, I don't take the bulk of these people's testimonies who have returned from Hell to have the strength of eternity. I have read several of their testimonies, including the "23 Minutes in Hell" book. The ones I have read all say that the number one quality of Hell is that nobody can EVER escape its torturous environment once they enter it. 

Well, my counter observation  is merely this-- they themselves were able to escape it, and the one fellow after only 23 minutes. These people don't just claim they saw Hell through an external window, but that they actually entered and experienced it, so their own quick escape seems to contradict their claim, at least to the inescapable aspect of it. 

And even if they did get a brief vision of it on some human level, how can they then claim to have witnessed an "eternal" aspect of it from only a brief time there? I can certainly see how our fractured and deceived inner states of being-- shame, guilt, bitterness, fear,and pride-- could all create hysterical delusions of toxic terror and hopeless agony. 

Jonah, when he was in the belly of the fish, thought he had been there for "eternity," but in truth it was only three days. And he was a changed man when he came out of the fish's belly. Jesus confirmed that Jonah's experience in the fish was a prophetic allegory of His own descent into hell. What seems one way to humans seems quite another way to God. 

I agree with F.F. Bruce that "eternal conscious torment" is inconsistent with the revealed nature of God in Jesus. This is why Jesus boldly declared in Acts 2 that the heavenly Father would NEVER abandon His son's soul in hell. 

And, regarding the people who claim hell is eternally inescapable because they have literally been there and back, let's not forget this champion truth. Jesus, according to Ephesians 4, kicked the gates of hell off their hinges as He "led captivity captive" and "ascended" into heaven so that He could "fill all things"— on, beneath and above the earth. 

In others words, Jesus, though He was weighed down with every sin of every human who ever lived had ever committed, proved that hell was NOT inescapable. Jesus not only escaped it, but He also "gutted" it of its misperceived power over humanity’s postmortem destiny. 

So perhaps these visions of Hell are simply our worst nightmares and fears amplified by suggestion, condemnation, and accusation which we feverishly project onto our postmortem expectations. But, as the Beloved John says, God continually shows Himself “greater than our heart” by showing us that no matter the garish nightmare state we may fearfully concoct, He WILL deliver us from it. 

I propose that God sees this whole dynamic far differently than do we. 

What if Hell (aka God's judgement fire of 1 Corinthians 3), from Gods viewpoint, was in truth a medical facility for the woefully wounded, the carnally crushed, the incessantly insecure, the insidiously indifferent, the feverishly fearful, and the murderously mad? 

What if Hell, from God's view, was a place of intimate healing where He rehabilitates humanity from all their self-obsessing, self-sabotaging, and self-cutting ways which result in them creating fanatical fig leaves of delusions behind which the fearful and unbelieving hide from God? 

What if God patiently endures and ministers to these sick people in, through, and around their delusions? What if God applies the intense "therapeutic treatment" needed to awaken these poor souls to the truth - - an ultimately irresistible truth which will set all men free - - God loves them and gave His life to cure them from their sicknesses?

Like the most intense form of chemotherapy we know in the physical, all the sin-masks and sin-identities which have cancerously grafted themselves onto our being will be irradiated and destroyed with the wise and curative fire of God. 

The human under judgment May suffer a searing "identity crisis" which, though in the long term will bring great positive transformation, may, in the short term, produce cathartic anguish and weeping.

On thing is for sure. God’s parental punishments are illuminative, curative, restorative, and rehabilitative. He is the Great Fatherly Physician who rescues and restores us from the gutter most to the uttermost.  And His quality work takes a lot longer then a mere 23 minutes to rightly perceive and understand.

The Error of “Precept upon Precept” Literalism - Richard Murray

Aren't we supposed to read the Bible literally, "precept upon precept, line upon line?" 

No. In fact, is the way we're NOT to read the Bible. In fact, the Bible warns us on its face not to so read it.

There is a well known teaching ministry which bases its name on Isaiah 28:13. Their stated focus is to teach the word of God "precept upon precept, line upon line" using what they call "Inductive Bible Study."  The key to rightly reading the Bible, this ministry holds,  is to convert all the Scriptures into a system of orderly precepts using strict rules of grammatical logic and historical context.

Here is the ironic catch. 

The very  passage this teaching ministry names itself after is quoted COMPLETELY out of context. The Isaiah passage emphatically warns us NOT to read Scripture "precept upon precept, line upon line," for to do so will cause us to "fall backward, and be broken, and snared, and taken."

Here is the full passage:

"Therefore shall the word of Jehovah be unto them precept upon precept, precept upon precept; line upon line, line upon line; here a little, there a little; THAT they may go, and fall backward, and be broken, and snared, and taken." 

Just as 2 Corinthians 3:6 warns us to NOT  read Scripture "by the letter, for the letter kills but the Spirit gives life," this Isaiah passage warns us to NEVER read the Bible as mere precepts to be systematically arranged according to the logic of men. To do so will cause us to fall backward and be taken by satanic snares of literalism.

Thus, the very name of this well known ministry violates their own central rule of interpretation which forbids taking any scripture out of context. "Precept upon precept"  is, in the context of this passage, a bad thing and not a good thing. Now, this ministry has certainly blessed many, but not BECAUSE of their precepts-based focus, but DESPITE it. 

And, in fact, the context of this Isaiah 28:9-13 passage reveals another dynamic truth.

"For with stammering lips and another tongue He will speak to this people, to whom He said, 'This is the rest with which you may cause the weary to rest, and, This is the refreshing:' yet they would not hear." Isaiah 28:11–12

Paul quoted (completely out of context I might add) verse 11 above in 1 Corinthians 14:21 right in the middle of his teaching on tongues.  This is the only New Testament reference to this Isaiah passage that I am aware of, so what is said here is crucial. His point is amazing. The people who only read the Bible "precept upon precept, one upon line" are unable to "hear" non-precept based revelation from the Holy Spirit through the gifts of the Spirit (here the gift of tongues specifically), an experience Isaiah prophetically calls a "rest" and "refreshing." 

But, because  those who read the Bible "by the letter" choose to view God's  word as mind-formulated precepts rather than spirit-quickened illumination, they will not be able to hear the teachings of the Holy Spirit, and so will fall backward and be snared. 

Nothing is more offensive to the legalistic mind than relying on tongues and their interpretation. Yet, Paul is promoting BOTH tongues and their wonderful "interpretations" as well when he quotes this Isaiah passage. Do people misuse spiritual gifts, such as tongues? Yes, on a large basis, but then again, people misuse most everything which originally came from God, so that's hardly a helpful point. Paul praised God for the revelatory gift of tongues, one which he claimed to use MORE than did all the Corinthians put together. The key, as it is with all spiritual gifts, is to use them well. What is wonderfully Spirit-given can also be wonderfully Spirit-driven.

Wasn't the purpose of the gift of tongues at Pentecost to show that whereas earthly languages have confused and divided us, as allegorized in the babble of Babel, Christ has now given us a better and brighter heavenly language to help unite and heal us? God, by this gift, was telling all men to loosen their grip on their own natural understanding, to stop idolizing language, to stop worshipping the dead letter, and to stop obsessing over the literal. 

Instead, there is a non-verbal land of milk and honey waiting for us. This land flows with unspoken unctions, transcendent tingles, virtuous vibes, inner illuminations, incomprehensible utterances, and groanings beyond words. 

When I now think of God, words no longer initially come to mind. Rather, a "tone," a "vibe," a "sensation," a "knowing" fills my heart with divine recognition. Words can then follow, inspired words, poetic words, passionate words. But language here never leads. It always follows.

This doesn't mean we still don't fervently esteem and meditate on Scripture, but it does reveal that the catalyzing agent of all heavenly revelation has got to be the Holy Spirit alone. It's  "way" we receive from God here that matters, through our Spirit-quickened conscience, not rigid man-made rule of interpretation we are chained to follow. Jesus said the Holy Spirit leads us into all truth, not the Holy Scriptures.

Once we contrast how wearisome, futile, carnal, and uninspiring "precept upon precept, line upon line" Bible reading truly, we can take Isaiah's advice and "rest" and "refresh" into something better. When we aggressively yield to our inner Spirit-quickened glowings and showings, Scriptures quickly become tender friends instead of legalistic task masters. This is the "rest" and "refreshing" these two passages promise. Let's set our hearts and minds to enter this wonderful state of being.

Lion-Lamb & the Function of Apocalyptic Oxymorons - Richard Murray

The book of Revelation is full of oxymorons.

The question is why?

An oxymoron is a figure of speech in which “contradictory terms appear in conjunction. It’s more commonly known as a ‘contradiction in terms.'”  (e.g. faith unfaithful kept him falsely true ).

Oxymorons are relatively rare, except in the book of Revelation. Again, the question is why?

“The wrath of the Lamb" is an oxymoron (6:16). Lambs don't have wrath. These images conceptually clash. "The wine of the wrath of God" is an oxymoron (14:10). Wine is a symbol of celebration, not wrath. The "Lake of Fire" (Revelation 19:20). How can water and fire occupy the same space? Again, these images simply do not blend.

Let's consider some other oxymoronic imagery that pervades Revelation. Jesus is initially called the Lion of Judah in Revelation 5, but for the rest of the book is always referred to as "the Lamb"--- hardly the picture of a wrathful killer. Jesus is pictured with "a sword coming out of His mouth" in 19:15, an "image-clash" between "speaking words of truth" and "hacking enemies to death." In this same passage, Jesus is "treading" grapes in a winepress to make "the wine of the fierceness of His wrath." But again, wine is a symbol of celebration and joy, not of anger and wrath. These images clearly contradict each other, and so should give us pause when we seek to interpret them.

Violent images continually converge with non-violent images. "The wrath of the Lamb," (6:16) and "the wine of the wrath of God" (14:10) and "the winepress of the wrath of God" (9:15) and "the marriage supper of the Lamb... where ye eat the flesh of kings, captains, and mighty men" (19:9) are all so contradictory. A lamb as an image of wrath? Wine, normally a symbol of joy and celebration, used as a symbol of wrath? A celebratory marriage feast where we eat the flesh of sinners? Jesus is portrayed as wearing a robe dipped in blood (19:13), but the blood is not His enemies but His own. How can a lake (Revelation 19:20), defined as a body of water, consist solely of fire?

Oxymoronic images abound all through the book of Revelation.

What is going on here? Often, when oxymorons are profusely used as they are here, it is often because the author's intent is for us to totally deconstruct our presuppositions. By crashing these contradictory images into each other, the better truth then survives and arises victorious.

It is a battle of imagery where instruments of peace overcome brutal instruments of war. Swords are conceptually hammered into plow-shares. Instruments of wrath become attached to symbols of joy and celebration instead. God overcomes evil one way and one way only, with goodness. This is not theology but poetry. We need to see it as such and keep focused on the end of the matter: tears done away with, death done away with, pain done away with, Hell emptied, a new heaven and a new earth.

Applying this same oxymoronic dynamic to the concept of violence, we discover the following. We are to flood our enemies with forgiveness. We throttle them with tenderness. We overcome them with the opposite spirit. We resist them with non-retaliation. We maul them with meekness. We capture them with the love of God. We ambush them with the awe of the Lord. We bombard them with bounteous blessings.

Here then is the bombastic bottom line: Jesus Christ is the revealed wrath of God.

Or perhaps, more accurately put, Jesus is the revealed absence of the wrath of God against earthly humanity. 

His attitude toward wrath (or its absence) was first declared when the Angels heralded His Father's attitude toward us as, "Peace on earth, goodwill toward humanity!" Luke 2:14.

This attitude toward wrath (or non-wrath) continued during His incarnation when Jesus declared that both He and His Father "judge no man" during this earth age. John 5:22; 8:15. "And if any man hear my words, and believe not, I judge him not: for I came not to judge the world, but to save the world." John 12:47.

Penultimately, He reaffirmed His attitude toward wrath with His dying declaration on the cross, "Father, forgive them for they know not what they do." Luke 23:34.

Finally, "the wrath of Jesus" is described  in the Book of Revelation by the oxymoronic term, "the wrath of the Lamb." This phrase is oxymoronic because Lambs don't have wrath, at least in any sense with which we are familiar.

Thus, the Lamb imagery subverts all traditional notions of wrath. If Jesus is indeed the revealed wrath of God, then God's wrath is tender, restorative, and curative-- like a lamb. It is NOT vicious, vengeful, and violent-- like a predatory beast.

God destroys wicked notions, not wicked nations,  evil purposes, not evil people. Listen to what "the wrath of the Lamb" produces at the end of the ages and forever and ever. It's not a battlefield of corpses but a united field of human and angelic awe at the goodness of God.

"And every creature which is in heaven, and on the earth, and under the earth, and such as are in the sea, and all that are in them, heard I saying, Blessing, and honour, and glory, and power, be unto him that sitteth upon the throne, and unto the Lamb forever and ever." Revelation 5:13.

Confidence Concerning Christ: a Progressivist Problem - Richard Murray

Something has been troubling me for some time about Progressive Christianity and its way of expressing its ideas. I recently got some clarity on what is the problem.

Progressives (with some notable exceptions) don’t emphasize (at all) wanting to know, declare, or share the dynamic and supernatural depths of who “was” and “is” Jesus. By “was” and “is”, I mean Jesus’ divine identity revealed through His incarnation, His death, His resurrection, and His current glorification.

Simply put, Progressives don’t want to tell you anything with confidence about Jesus (which often comes across as an artificial humility). Instead, Progressives want to deconstruct YOUR confidence in what YOU have come to believe, feel, think, and know about Jesus. Progressives offer nothing positive to replace it, leaving you only with a mindset of deconstructive doubt and spiritual befuddlement which marginalizes Jesus to the realm of the basically unknowable.   

If you dare share in their hearing what Jesus, Abba, and Spirit mean to you, they will naysay you and challenge your claim as an inaccurate and unknowable view of who “is” Father, Son, and Spirit. They are woefully unable to tell you who Jesus IS, but will quite boldly tell you who Jesus ISN’T. And what He isn’t, Progressives claim, is anything you claim to viscerally or experientially know by and through your OWN spiritual walk and devotional study.

You call Jesus God. Many Progressives will respond YOU are equally God.

You call Jesus supernaturally empowered, an empowerment He has gifted to us as His corporate bride through His Holy Spirit. Many Progressives snicker and say miracles are mere myths because science renders them impossible, and hard science ALWAYS trumps the mythic supernatural.

You call Jesus Savior. Many Progressives snicker and DENY there is anything from which they need to be saved—AT ALL, and it’s silly for you to suggest otherwise.

You call the purpose of Jesus’ heroic acts  — His death on the cross, His descent into Hell, His resurrection from the tomb, and His ascension into Heaven as Jesus’ triumphant way of defeating Death and the fallen Cosmic Powers. Many Progressives will deny there are any fallen angelic Powers and that Death is a wondrous dynamic which we are to embrace.

You call the Atonement Jesus’ way of transfusing His curative energies into healing and inhabiting this fractured creation. Many Progressives deny the creation is fractured and that it is perfect just the way it is, and that it always has been, thus there is no atonement.

Progressives (not all certainly, but far too many) leave us with a Jesus we don’t really need, we don’t really understand, and we can’t really know.

Thanks, but no thanks.

The next time a Progressive seeks to undermine what you have come to know and believe about Jesus, Abba, and Spirit, FIRST ask what they themselves know about Jesus with any measure of confidence. All you likely will hear are crickets. You may hear about all sorts of scientific or new age theories about this or that, but you won’t hear anything about the prompting personal presence, the pulsating power, and the prodigious preeminence of Christ.

Psalm 1 exhorts us never to sit in the seat of the naysayer. So let’s don’t. Let’s instead resolve to focus on the fullness of who Jesus IS and what epic things He has wrought on our behalf.

Richard Murray on Patristic Universalism and God's Cleansing Fire

Patristic Universalism

"Patristic Universalism" (aka Apocatastasis), to which I subscribe, believes that one must be spiritually reborn to enter the kingdom of Heaven, and that this rebirth comes solely from an extension of interpersonal faith in Jesus Christ. It simply holds that this conversion can come in this age (which is far better) OR in the heightened crisis of the postmortem ages to come.

In other words, even after our deaths, God will continue to woo us, convince us, and vibrantly confront our issues until we finally see and embrace the irresistible truth--that Jesus Christ is the one true light and love, and in Him alone, our salvation lies. The church fathers believed that "God's fire was wise" in purging and pruning our diseased souls back to a place of pristine health.

This form of Universalism believes in a God who would never give His children the keys to a cosmic car with which they could crash, burn, and destroy themselves eternally. Rather, our dear Abba has installed spiritual guardrails, airbags, and safety equipment into the postmortem cosmos which will keep our souls from destruction no matter how hard we may have wrecked them during our earthly lives.

Simply put, Patristic Universalism believes Jesus will win all people back, come Hell or high-water. God, through Jesus Christ, will ultimately rescue and convince ALL to receive their rebirth, even if it is after (in some cases) much "gnashing of teeth," prolonged emotional anguish, and stubborn mental resistance. Many will hold out for extended periods of time, but all will eventually see that against an irresistibly virtuous God there is no eternal defense. As the lies are burned away, every soul will come to itself and behold this champion truth--Jesus Christ is God's rescuing love.

I stopped blaming God: Beyond Divine Omni-causation - Richard Murray

The day I removed the terms "force" and "coercion" out and away from my image of God's character, and replaced them with "wooing" and "influence," so many things began to change for me spiritually. 

I stopped viewing God as an omni-causative "control-freak," an obsessive cosmic puppeteer who pulls all the causative strings of His creation 24/7.

I stopped viewing God as a bipolar "reality rapist" who would capriciously force His will upon us to either execute His wrathful will or His coercive love whenever He "felt like it."

I stopped blaming God for my/our individual and corporate misuses of my/our creaturely freedom. 

I stopped blaming God for the resultant evil which filled the vacuum caused by the angelic and human misuse of their creaturely freedoms. 

In short, I stopped blaming God. 

Instead, I began cultivating and esteeming "God's immutable and unchangeable will to all goodness." – William Law. 

I became fully convinced that, "God is light and in Him is no darkness—at all." 1 John 1:5. 

I resolved to never think, say, or insinuate that God has any causative connection to evil, or that He uses evil as a sculpting tool on us in any way, either passively or actively. James 1:13-17. 

I began to realize that Jesus IS God's complete "disallowance of" and "deliverance from" all evil, a salvation which is being progressively unfurled across all time and space according to the maturity level of His church, bride, and body. The quicker we corporately mature, the quicker the unfurling openly manifests. The slower we corporately mature, the slower the unfurling manifests. This is what Peter means when he exhorts us to "hasten" the fullness of the Lord's coming-- i.e. we CAN "hasten the day of the Lord's fullness." 2 Peter 3:12. The two master ingredients in this are faith and patience. Hebrew 6:12. 

I have concluded that God, for His part, always "hastens to the highest available good" in any and every situation, subject of course to all the various limiting dynamics which exist in a temporally free creation. Until Christ is fully and openly manifest though us as His body and bride upon the earth, the scorched sky of unbelief, misbelief, and disbelief will continue to hinder His will from fully manifesting on earth as it is in Heaven. The Bride's role is to continue to diligently punch holes in this scorched sky so that the Son's curative light can FULLY shine Heavens's will on all our circumstances. Paul tells us all creation is groaning for this scorched sky to be fully dispelled. Romans 8:19-22.

Intellectual Honesty and Interpreting the Bible with the Conscience - Richard Murray

If nothing else, Law School taught me to be intellectually honest about the text of the law--what the text might mean, what it could mean, what it shouldn't mean, and how its various applications could be evolved by engaging it as an open rather than a closed text. The law allows for what is beautifully termed "the enlightened conscience of the jury" to be the ultimate "fact-finding" determiner of whether the spirit of the law has been broken in any given situation.

In short, I learned in law school to always read and interpret the law with my conscience. (I freely admit some lawyers are strict constructionists in their interpretations, but many are not).

I practiced law for 4 years before I encountered Christ. Right after that, in 1990, I left my practice for two years and attended Regent University to obtain a Master's Degree in Practical Theology. Sometimes I asked questions that got me on the professors' bad side.

One such incident occurred during my first week in my hermeneutics class. I was excited because I was sure this class would show me the best way to read the Scripture, particularly the Old Testament. Here the professor said we would learn rules that would keep us from ever quoting passages out of their historical or grammatical context.

Better the Devil You Know? Richard Murray

“Better the devil you know than the devil you don't.” Irish Proverb. 

 

The problem arises when we each know a "different devil." Today there is often a wide conceptual chasm amongst Christians of good faith regarding the nature and reality of Satan. Some see Satan as a rebelliously angelic "who," while others see Satan as a non-ontological "what." 

 

Is Satan an evil angel of hostile intent projecting his evil onto humankind, or is the devil an amalgam of humankind's evil natures which are projecting themselves onto an archetypal image Satan? Simply put, is the devil a dark cosmic angel acting UPON humankind, OR is the devil a dark cosmic dynamic acting WITHIN mankind?

 

And does it matter?

 

Must we, as the body of Christ, have uniformity in our beliefs about "the devil and his angels" (Matthew 25:41, Revelation 12:9) to still effectively resist the fallen powers as the body of Christ? 

 

Or, can we cordially disagree on Satan's ontology, while still sharing a cohesive and coherent theodicy which allows us function together in a spirit of unity? Can we still disagree on this topic without calling the other side deceived, blind, primitive, stupid, or superstitious? 

 

Can we tenderly apply John Wesley's sage advice to "think  and let think," especially in this particular area in which diverse beliefs don't necessarily malign God's character or nature?

DID GOD SEEK TO KILL MOSES FOR FAILING TO CIRCUMCISE HIS SON? - Richard Murray

Did God seek to kill Moses in the following passage?

"Now on the way, at a place where they stopped for the night, the LORD met Moses and sought to kill him. But Zipporah took a flint knife, cut off the foreskin of her son and touched it to Moses’ feet, and said, 'Surely you are a bridegroom of blood to me.' So the LORD let him alone. (At that time she said, 'A bridegroom of blood,' referring to the circumcision.)." Exodus 4:24-26.

God sought to kill Moses, simply because Moses failed to timely circumcise his son? Does this make any sense? Could we ever picture Jesus ever doing anything remotely like this?

Of course not. Let's take a closer look.

First, this passage says God sought to kill Moses, apparently for failing to circumcise his son on the 8th day after his birth. The Jewish mindset often would say "the Lord" did "this deadly thing" or "the Lord" did "that deadly thing," but then later assign the actual destructive action to an angel. They interpreted all "angelic activity" as "the Lord"." They considered Satan "the angel of death" of the Exodus plagues who just followed the Lord's killing orders. This Exodus 4 passage is no different.

Judaism and Calvinism both make the same basic theological mistake -- they both believe Satan ONLY does what God expressly commands him to do. Calvinism says Satan is a rabid dog on the Lord's taut chain, BUT that he ONLY does what the Lord specifically "yanks his chain" to do when He "sics" Satan on those He wrathfully wishes to destroy. Judaism differs only slightly in saying that while Satan is not be a rabid dog, he is certainly an obedient servant angel who ONLY does what the Lord expressly orders him to do. Either way, Satan is seen as the executor of God's destructive judgments.

Again, the Jews attributed ANY and ALL angelic activity to God. When Jacob wrestled God, the Bible describes it in one place as God wrestling Jacob, while in another place Scripture says it was an angel who Jacob wrestled. When God appears to say He Himself will strike the firstborn of Egypt, it is actually the death angel who thereafter does the dirty work, a death angel Judaism has always recognized as Satan.

As THE ENCYCLOPEDIA OF JEWISH CONCEPTS by Philip Birnbaum says, "Satan...is...identified with the angel of death. He leads astray, then he brings accusations against man, whom he slays eventually. His chief functions are those of temptation, accusation and punishment. Under the control of God, he acts solely with the divine permission to carry out his plots." (Sanhedrin Press, page 594). Rabbi Benjamin Blech similarly writes, "Judaism sees Satan as a servant of God whose function is to set up choices between good and evil so that we can exercise our free will.... [His] apparent harshness is merely camouflage for divine concern and love." IF GOD IS SO GOOD, WHY IS THE WORLD SO BAD? Simcha Press, pages 7-9

In fact, in this Exodus 4:24 passage, the Jews believed it was an ANGEL in the form of a SERPENT to be doing the harm to Moses. As Christians, we know who the "serpent-angel" is-- Satan. Below is one of the most famous Jewish commentaries concerning this passage. It is called Rashi's Commentary. Rashi was the outstanding Jewish Biblical commentator of the Middle Ages.

"Exodus 4:24. Now he was on the way, in an inn, that the Lord met him and sought to put him to death. כד. וַיְהִי בַדֶּרֶךְ בַּמָּלוֹן וַיִּפְגְּשֵׁהוּ יְהֹוָה וַיְבַקֵּשׁ הֲמִיתוֹ:
Now he was: [I.e.,] Moses.

ויהי: משה בדרך במלון:
on the way, in an inn and sought to put him to death: [I.e., He sought] Moses, because he had neglected to circumcise his son Eliezer. Because he neglected it, he was [to be] punished with death. It was taught in a Braitha: Rabbi Jose said: God forbid! Moses did not neglect it, but he reasoned: Shall I circumcise [him] and go forth on the road? It will be dangerous for the child for three days. Shall I circumcise [him] and wait three days? The Holy One, blessed be He, commanded me, “Go, return to Egypt.” [Moses hurried to Egypt intending to circumcise Eliezer upon his return.] Why [then] was he to be punished with death? Because first he busied himself with [the details of] his lodging. [This appears] in tractate Nedarim (31b). ******The angel turned into a sort of serpent and swallowed him [Moses] from his head to his thighs, and then [spit him out and] swallowed him from his feet to his private parts. Zipporah therefore understood that it was because of [the failure to perform] the circumcision [that this occurred]. — [from Ned. 32a, Exodus Rabbah 5:5]."

The Septuagint (Greek translation of the Old Testament) likewise attributes the attack on Moses to an angel of the Lord rather than to Yahweh directly. Note how the Old Testament saints confused Satan and the Lord in the following passages: 1 Chronicles 21:1 and 2 Samuel 24:1. These passages both describe the exact same Biblical event of David's sin in numbering Satan, but in the first passage "Satan" caused David's sin and the resultant killing of 70,000 Isrealites, whereas in the second passage "the anger of the Lord" caused David to sin. So, if the Old Testament "wrath of God" is in reality "the ministry of Satan," then "Houston we have a problem" in rightly understanding the difference between God's nature and Satan's nature in the Old Testament.

The point is that Old Testament saints believed Satan was the left hand of God, His angry voice, His official minister of wrath. SO THAT when THEY described "the angel of the Lord" as committing destructive acts, they were referring to Satan.

If we don't allow for their misunderstanding on that point, we will believe in all sorts of horrible things about God. Jesus revealed a God who only gives and protects life and a Devil who only takes and destroys life. John 10:10; Hebrews 2:14. Jesus perfectly knew the difference between God's works and Satan's works. The Old Testament saints often didn't.

If we can't see Jesus killing Moses over his son not being circumcised, then we can't see God the Father doing it either. Now, if Moses had an obedience issue with God, a faith-flaw in this important area of sanctifying his family, then this could grant Satan legal access to afflict and try to destroy him. This is why the New Testament warns us to "not give space to the devil" (Ephesians 4:24). That is what I believe is going on here. But, that Satanic access was cured here by Zipporah's repentant actions.

Paul says in Galatians physical circumcision is "nothing," but that heart circumcision is everything. To imagine Jesus ever killing anybody over the absence of a physical ceremony which the New Testament says is "nothing" is just inconceivable. We have to start in the New Testament and work backward.

From this angle, we can now read this passage as a Christo-allegory of Paul's New Testament directive that a believing wife can sanctify an unbelieving or misbelieving husband. This sanctification is an inside job regarding the need for a sanctified heart motive in his role as a father which Moses, as a type, was lacking. His dear Zipporah stood in the breach for him and saw him healed. Good message of female empowerment here.

"Can you imagine Jesus EVER saying ..." Richard Murray

Can you imagine Jesus EVER saying any of the following things?

I have inserted Jesus' name in brackets for effect:

"Thus saith the LORD [Jesus]... Slay both man and woman, infant and suckling."

- 1 Samuel 15:3

"Joshua destroyed all that breathed, as the LORD [Jesus] commanded."

- Joshua 10:40

"The LORD [Jesus] delivered them before us; and we destroyed the men, and the women, and the little ones."

- Deuteronomy 2:33-34

"And they warred against the Midianites, as the LORD [Jesus] commanded Moses; and they slew all the males.... Now therefore kill every male among the little ones, and kill every woman that hath known man by lying with him."

- Numbers 31:7, 17.

"The wind of the LORD [Jesus] shall come up from the wilderness, and his spring shall become dry, and... Samaria shall become desolate... they shall fall by the sword: their infants shall be dashed in pieces, and their women with child shall be ripped up."

- Hosea 13:15-16

"With thee will I [the LORD Jesus] break in pieces the young man and the maid."

- Jeremiah 51:22

I am convinced that people who demand a hyper-literal reading of the Old Testament have never actually read it (at least in its entirety). They just seem to blissfully (or conveniently) ignore the horrible implications of the above and below passages. The church fathers Origen, Gregory of Nyssa, John Cassian, and Augustine all thought it was akin to blasphemy to read these types of passages literally because of how horrendously they malign God's character.

To say that the following passages, in their LITERAL sense, accurately describe the words, attitudes, and actions of the God revealed by/in Jesus Christ is an abomination. Sadly, this abomination is what has created atheists, chilled children's hearts, and robbed Christianity of its coherence. Let's take a look at the unthinkable verses in the Old Testament. 

The Literalist Hermeneutics of Luther's Increasing Violence - Richard Murray

 

The Devil playing the Bagpipe/ Erhard Schoen (anti-luther propaganda c. 1530)

“Peasants are no better than straw. They will not hear the word and they are without sense; therefore they must be compelled to hear the crack of the whip and the whiz of bullets and it is only what they deserve.”

“To kill a peasant is not murder; it is helping to extinguish the conflagration. Let there be no half measures! Crush them! Cut their throats! Transfix them. Leave no stone unturned! To kill a peasant is to destroy a mad dog! If they say that I am very hard and merciless, mercy be damned. Let whoever can stab, strangle, and kill them like mad dogs.”

“I, Martin Luther, have during the rebellion slain all the peasants, for it was I who ordered them to be struck dead. All their blood is upon my head. But I put it all on our Lord God: for he commanded me to speak thus.”

What caused Martin Luther, the leader of the Protestant Reformation, to become so bitter and violent-minded in the later years of his life?

Luther came to believe rebellious peasants should be tortured, have their throats slit, and suffer beheading. He also believed all Jews should be brutally persecuted, exiled en masse, and that all their property should be destroyed. Luther also believed Anabaptists, who were largely peace-loving and Spirit-embracing, should nonetheless be executed along with all other heretics.

Why? This seems so shockingly un-Christlike for a man who say many admire as a paragon of faith. We do know that this violent vitriol appeared to surface more and more during his later years.

Revelation is the Final Exam re: the Goodness of God - Richard Murray

Revelation is the "final exam" for understanding the goodness of God. If we don't already know the nature of God, we will never understand the book of Revelation. As Revelation 5 clearly shows, ONLY the divine nature and wisdom of Jesus is WORTHY and ABLE to unseal and open the mysteries of the book.

People usually advertise Revelation as revealing a God who is incredibly violent, wrathful and destructive. Yet, is this true? Is this violent image the true Lamb of God portrayed in Revelation? NO!

Revelation is chocked full of various themes of God's non-violent goodness:

1) Death and Hell will be destroyed by God's goodness (20:13-21:4).

2) Satan is overcome by our non-violent and sacrificial worship of God (12:11).

3) God's goodness makes all things new--- we receive a new name (2:17; 3:12), God creates a new Jerusalem (3:12; 21:12), we worship God with new songs (5:9; 14:3), there is a new Heaven and a new Earth, and ALL things are made brand new (21:5).

4) The words "worship" and "worshipped" appear more in the book of Revelation than in any other book of the Bible (4:8-11; 5:8-14; 7:11; 11:15-17; 14:7; 15:1-4; 19:10; 22:9). Some commentators actually believe Revelation is just one big worship service.

5) The Lamb shall be our ABSOLUTE and ONLY source of provision--- no more hunger (7:16), no more thirst (7:16), no more tears (7:17; 21:4), and even no more sun or moon, for the Lamb will be the light (21:23).

6) The theme of universal salvation is broached in Revelation 5:8-14, where "every creature in Heaven and on earth and under the earth and in the sea, and all that are in them, sing, 'To the one seated on the throne and to the Lamb be blessing and honor and glory and might forever and ever!'" Certainly sounds like all creatures, great and small, are reconciled back to worshipping God here--- bar none. Hallelujah!

7) The Marriage Supper of the Lamb is described, a celebration which joyfully heralds the defeat of evil and the full orgasmic union of Christ and His bride (19:4-10, 11-21).
BOTTOM LINE: Revelation is chocked full of goodness themes. It is not a book primarily about wrath and destruction, but rather life and restoration.

SO WHAT EXACTLY IS GOING ON IN REVELATION?

Have you ever been listening to your car radio, and because of poor reception you begin to hear two different radio signals at once? I remember driving late one night on a long road trip. I couldn't find a clear channel to listen to, but I did turn the dial to a setting where I could hear BOTH a Gospel music station AND a talk radio show where alien abductions were being discussed. Sometimes the stations alternated so that I could hear each station clearly for a few moments as the signals fought back and forth for dominance, while at other times they both played over each other simultaneously so that all I could hear was a garbled mess of mixed signals.

Well, this is exactly what is going on in Revelation. We are hearing more than one signal, and both are battling for dominance in our hearts. And often, those signals produce oxymoronic messages. The definition of "oxymoron" means, "A rhetorical figure in which incongruous or contradictory terms are combined, as, for example, in the following terms--- 'a deafening silence' and a 'mournful optimist.'"

The book of Revelation is full of oxymorons. "The wrath of the Lamb" is an oxymoron (6:16). Lambs don't have wrath. These images conceptually clash. "The wine of the wrath of God" is an oxymoron (14:10). Wine is a symbol of celebration, not wrath. The "Lake of Fire" (Revelation 19:20). How can water and fire occupy the same space? Again, theses images simply do not blend.

Let's consider some other oxymoronic imagery which pervades Revelation. Jesus is initially called the Lion of Judah in Revelation 5, but for the rest of the book is always referred to as "the Lamb"--- hardly the picture of a wrathful killer. Jesus is pictured with "a sword coming out of His mouth" in 19:15, an "image-clash" between "speaking words of truth" and "hacking enemies to death." In this same passage, Jesus is "treading" grapes in a winepress to make "the wine of the fierceness of His wrath." But again, wine is a symbol of celebration and joy, not of anger and wrath. These images clearly contradict each other, and so should give us pause when we seek to interpret them.

Violent images continually converge with non-violent images. "The wrath of the Lamb," (6:16) and "the wine of the wrath of God" (14:10) and "the winepress of the wrath of God" (9:15) and "the marriage supper of the Lamb... where ye eat the flesh of kings, captains and mighty men" (19:9) are all so contradictory. A lamb as an image of wrath? Wine, normally a symbol of joy and celebration, used as a symbol of wrath? A celebratory marriage feast where we eat the flesh of sinners? Jesus is portrayed as wearing a robe dipped in blood (19:13), but the blood is not His enemies but His own. How can a lake (Revelation 19:20), defined as a body of water, consist solely of fire? Oxymoronic images abound all through the book of Revelation.

What is going on here? Often, when oxymorons are profusely used as they are here, it is often because the author's intent is for us to totally deconstruct our presuppositions. By crashing these contradictory images into each other, the better truth then survives and arises victorious.

It is a battle of imagery where instruments of peace overcome brutal instruments of war. Swords are conceptually hammered into plough-shares. Instruments of wrath become attached to symbols of joy and celebration instead. God overcomes evil one way and one way only, with goodness. This is not theology but poetry. We need to see it as such and keep focused on the end of the matter: tears done away with, death done away with, pain done away with, Hell emptied, a new heaven and a new earth.

The book of Revelation is written in a style known as Jewish apocalyptic literature. It is heavily metaphorical, feverishly symbolic and incredibly non-linear in its exposition.

Theologians warn us NOT to read it literally for theological doctrine, but rather to read it poetically for mystically moving imagery.

"Wrath of God" or "Works of Satan"? - Richard Murray

I have believed for some time now that what we have imprudently called "the wrath of God" is, in reality, the unrecognized and unattributed "works of Satan."

Even the Bible confuses these two concepts--"the works of Satan" and "the anger of God." This is easily proven by considering the incident in which King David sinned by numbering Israel. This incident is first recorded in 2 Samuel 24:1, and then centuries later in 1 Chronicles 21:1. In the earlier entry, David's sin is caused by "the anger of God," while in the later passage "Satan's provocation" is the cause of David's sin.

"And again THE ANGER OF THE LORD was kindled against Israel, and he moved David against them to say, Go, number Israel and Judah." 2 Sam. 24:1.

"And SATAN stood up against Israel, and provoked David to number Israel..." 1 Chr. 21:1.

The above passages describe the same event where David sinned by numbering Israel. Same event. Same David. Same sin. Same result: 70,000 dead Israelites, but a different cause of evil. The Samuel passage attributes it to the anger of the Lord while the later Chronicles passage attributes it to Satan.

But, I recently discovered FURTHER fascinating support for the above proposal. The Jews, both in their Talmudic and Post-Talmudic literature, believed that Samael (literally "the wrath or poison of God") was another name for Satan. They equated "God's wrath" with "Satan's oppressions."

Satan's Foundational Lie: "... As God 'knowing' good and evil" - Richard Murray

Here is the fundamental Satanic lie all men have subconsciously internalized--that God is BOTH good AND evil, BOTH love AND wrath, BOTH light AND dark, BOTH healer AND afflicter.

"And the serpent said unto the woman, Ye shall not surely die: for God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be AS, AS, AS God, knowing good AND, AND, AND evil." Genesis 3:4-5 (emphasis added).

Or, put another way, Satan's core lie here was about God's nature -- that God experientially knew good AND evil, that God in fact authored good AND evil, that God ultimately WAS good and evil. So, the "knowledge of good and evil" is really the knowledge OF God AS the source of BOTH good AND evil.

And here is the poison. Once WE partake of THAT core lie--that God is internally dualistic, radically bipolar, ferociously fickle, violently volatile, and horribly inconsistent--then WE likewise become those things. The history of man has proved that proposition to be true. In short, we follow our image of God. Our destiny is determined by our view of God. If we believe God is BOTH good and evil, BOTH loving and wrathful, THEN so too will we be.

A. W. Tozer rightly believed that we tend "by a secret law of the soul" to gravitate toward and grow to resemble our mental image of God. Thus, Tozer was convinced that what comes to your mind when you think about God is the most important thing about you. High thoughts of God bring us into pure worship and a sanctified walk, while low thoughts of God defile our hearts and corrupt our walk.

The bottom line is that you become what you believe about God. Simply put, Satan's foundational lie to us all is is that God is "not" ONLY good, ONLY light, and ONLY love. He is ALSO evil, ALSO dark and ALSO wrath. And since Satan is the ACTUAL source of all the evil and dark dynamics mentioned above, then what Satan is really doing is inserting himself into our image of God. He is illegitimately joining himself to God's hip within our own understanding. And this is exactly what happened to the Old Testament saints. They had an undifferentiated view of God which caused them to wrongly attribute the destructive works of Satan to God. They erroneously believed Satan was God's "angry voice," His "left hand of wrath" in other words.

Beyond the Undifferentiated God - Richard Murray

A cautionary limitation of the OT is that it sometimes presents a distorted image of God. This distortion was formed by people who labored under "developmental limitations" (in a spiritual sense, remember Paul likens OT saints to schoolchildren in Galatians).

OT saints wrongly conjoined God and Satan together at the hip. Under their hyper-sovereign view of things, they saw Satan as God's angry voice, God's minister of wrath, God's "left hand" in other words. The resultant image leaves us with a frequently un-Christ-like, Janus-faced, and bipolar image of God.

But, Jesus came to reveal that Satan is NOT the left hand of God. Jesus may be seated at the right hand of the Heavenly Father, but Satan is not seated at His left hand. Jesus is BOTH hands of God. In Him dwells the fullness of the Godhead bodily. If you see Him, you have truly seen the fullness of the Father's boundless goodwill toward us.

Yet, many claim to this day that Satan IS the left hand of God, doing only what God expressly commands him to do. Many Calvinists believe this (that Satan is on God's leash). Ancient and modern Judaism believes this. Islam believes this. In fact, even the Old Testament saints believe this.

But, thankfully, Jesus doesn't believe it. He came to reveal that Old Testament thinking was misguided on this point. Jesus came to correct Old Testament thinking about the relationship between God and Satan.