Hebrews 4:14-5:10

Posted on October 10, 2026 by ehurst

Re: Naked Bible 183: Hebrews 4:14-5:10

Our High Priest is also the ultimate sacrifice that brings us into the Presence of God. If you come to Him, you cannot be turned away. That’s because Jesus is the only High Priest who has been fully in our situation. The Aaronic priesthood had special requirements that separated priests from the daily lives of the common people. Jesus has experienced the full range of the powers of fleshly temptation. That we have been tempted and failed does not disqualify us. We are still welcome in His Presence.

The “hold fast our confession” here is the same as “hold fast our confidence” in 3:6. We have been called into His family, His household as adopted children. We belong. Not only has our High Priest passed through this life, but He also walked the halls of Heaven, which no priest has ever done. He holds the full power of both realms, and the basis of our faith is His calling, nothing we could have done. We share in His flesh and blood (back in chapter 2). He came here to earth specifically so that He could overwhelmingly qualify above every other power that holds us.

Why in the world would we have any doubts about the effectiveness of His intercession with Father on our behalf? What could possibly offer any better refuge? We should hold total confidence in the welcome we will receive when we come to Him and cry out our sorrows. It is Jesus who sits on the Throne of Grace. We were not merely a sideline in Jesus’ mission. The only reason the Father brought Him back to this throne is because He accomplished the mission in full.

The Greek word often translated as “sympathize” (sumpatheo) does not carry the condescension it does in English. Rather, it imagines someone who bears the same wounds and trauma. He was there with us in every moment when we suffered any human disability. The only difference is that He never actually sinned, and this is stated emphatically. See 2 Corinthians 5:21; John 7:18; 1 Peter 1:19 & 2:22. For this reason, He was in a position to atone for the sins of others.

It’s not as if He purchased us from the Devil; the price Jesus paid granted Him a higher jurisdiction. He became the sovereign who could seize feudal property from a vassal. Jesus owes the Devil nothing; all the burden of accountability goes the other direction.

We as humans struggle to understand how the Devil is totally shut out of the consequences of our election. Many people have wondered if the New Earth or restored Eden might somehow see a human flaw creep back in. The power of the flesh has been severed; it’s eternal. Even if we cannot explain it, we must learn to seize upon this truth. It becomes a functioning assumption by which we operate. Yes, while we remain in the flesh, it’s always possible to sin. While there are plenty of consequences for sin in this life, the worst that will happen in Eden is that we will carry the memory and embarrassment. Even saying that is only a verbal estimate of the situation.

Your Edenic identity does not rest on your performance in the flesh. If the Father embraces His Son, He embraces us as well. We part of the package.

Then the writer of Hebrews contrasts things further in Chapter 5. Previous high priests were human; they understand our situation. They offered sacrifices for their fellow humans and for themselves, as well. Further, they could stand in this role only by divine calling. Christ didn’t seize the role either, but humbled Himself to be a nobody, from whence He was called by His Father to take up an even higher role as the ultimate reality of what Melchizedek symbolized. There is no need for Him to offer sacrifices for His own frailty; He overcame it.

He stood in the gap, performing as no priest ever had. His moral purity ensured that God could not ignore His cries on our behalf. There was no boundary to overcome. This was the Son calling to His Father. If the Father says “yes” to Jesus, who could possibly demand more from Him? What possible authority exists that could intervene and hinder Jesus from claiming our place in the divine household? He Himself calls us to His Throne of Grace.

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Hebrews 4:1-13

Posted on October 3, 2026 by ehurst

Re: Naked Bible 182: Hebrews 4:1-13

Let’s remind ourselves of a recurring theme here: God rested after Creation. He calls us to enter into that Sabbath rest. That was echoed at the call to enter the Promised Land rest, also echoed in the Sabbath rest of Covenant in Christ. Eternal life is provided by God, so it is His rest into which we are allowed to enter by the Cross.

The writer of Hebrews warned that Israel failed to enter into God’s rest at Kadesh, and most of Israel failed to enter it again after the Cross. Rejecting the Cross is the same as rejecting the Promised Land, rejecting the Sabbath, etc. The original promise still stands. He also echoes the theme of holding fast to the word of promise by faith. They didn’t violate the Torah at Kadesh; they broke faith with God, they betrayed their Lord personally.

What I noticed is that, while Israel camped in the Wilderness of Paran, waiting for the spies to return, who could have imagined going back into Egyptian slavery? Oddly enough, once they had the report of the spies, they were ready to stone Moses and return to Egypt. This is the imagery the writer of Hebrew uses for his audience to warn them that it should be unimaginable for them to return to the slavery of the Talmud. There was nothing there for them. Refusing to enter fully into Christ and His Covenant, along with all the risks of conquering the Nephilim, would be a slow, pitiful death in the wilderness.

In the sense of “already but not yet” we find the writer of Hebrews pointing out that the Sabbath Rest was always available. The space-time object to which it was associated might change often enough, but God’s rest was always a spiritual situation, not a time or place. One enters that rest by faith, not by space-time location. However, because we live within that space-time continuum, the doorway of God’s rest for us can close. Obeying Him always has real-world implications. “Today” is the day; don’t miss this moment. Thus, the writer warns his readers that their time is short, as if the moment of decision had already arrived.

Turning back now would be tantamount to turning to foreign gods. We dare not get entangled in any of the Three Rebellions. Think about the Covenant Law of Christ, living together in His love. This is the Eden we can taste right now. It’s what Eden would have been without the Fall. There’s nothing new about this, except that humanity has been away from it for such a long time. It’s going to seem all brand new, but it’s the original condition of humanity in Eden.

It’s not a physical rest, but a rest of the spirit. In Eden we were commissioned to cultivate the rest of the earth, enlarging the Garden of God. We’ll get a chance to return to that mission, the thing for which we were created. This is what Jesus meant about taking up His yoke to find rest.

Finally, we come to the part about the Living Word like a sword. If you and I slice into joints, we will destroy the life there. No cutting instrument we can make will discern between soul and spirit; it would only bring death. Only the Word of God can do vivisection, discerning between flesh and spirit. Without the Word living in your heart, you cannot hope to nail your fleshly nature to the Cross, because you cannot recognize the problems on your own. (Heiser takes a different tack on this.)

The point the writer of Hebrews makes here is pleading with his audience to turn to the Word again (not the Talmud) and see if Christ is not there. He’s the living sword, the one who will help you escape the fleshly nature that longs to return to the slavery of Egypt under her pagan gods.

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Building Trust

Posted on September 28, 2026 by ehurst

I never wanted to control others; I’ve always tried to promote them in pursuing their own calling. When I first stated blogging some 25+ years ago, my only interest was simply having my say. I would have been quite surprised if I had gained a following of any sort. It was just venting.

Over the years, my online ministry has seen people come and go. That’s as it should be, if you ask me. I’m not building a kingdom. But somewhere along the line, a few have stayed. We now have a core group of longstanding members, a spiritual family. Most of us have met in the flesh and it served only to confirm those family ties.

As the elder, I don’t even make rules. I make suggestions; that’s about it. I don’t have to tell anyone what they should do. When people begin to absorb the spiritual outlook of the Hebrew mindset, supervision is totally unnecessary. All I do is encourage and support people who serve in their own ministries. I’m an enabler.

This is what Jesus meant at the Last Seder, giving the command that we should love each other as He does. We are a family, not an organization or institution. There is nothing to accomplish, no agenda, no goals. The focus is being who God intended we should be. We can’t possibly control the situation, nor should we even want that. We respond to God’s handiwork.

Meanwhile, we all share some of our resources, whatever God puts in our hands for that purpose. The most important thing I do is point out the frame of reference, not the contents of what people should think. The goal is to provide a context in which people hear from God and act on their convictions.

Given that we are entering a long period of tribulation, one of the things I keep an eye on is preparing the flock to grow. You cannot compel sheep to reproduce; you can only make the atmosphere conducive to it. The primary reason we aren’t a bigger group already is that there are way too many people whose field of view — their expectations — exclude our path. In due time, as life becomes more difficult here in the US, our total aplomb about the sorrows around us will speak loudly.

God is going to shake loose people from their delusions. When He does, a few of them will decide that we have the kind of hope and stability they need.

Part of our preparation for that is to help each one of our current members to find their own path of conviction. While there’s nothing to gain by making rules for people who already possess a spiritual compass based on the Hebraic outlook of the Scriptures, that doesn’t mean they need never think about the rules it takes to help spiritual children who haven’t yet developed that anchorage of the soul.

We strive to discern between what is of the flesh and what is of the Spirit. Rules might reflect that distinction, but it’s a tough job keeping track of how such rules actually serve that purpose. But it’s never about the rules; it’s always seeking to awaken spiritual and moral awareness. We’d much rather trust people to follow the Lord without so much guidance from us.

Feel free to ignore us, or stand by and watch, or even participate.

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Why Pick on the NAR?

Posted on September 27, 2026 by ehurst

It’s impossible to cover all the bases. If I wrote something every day, and if you were to read everything I wrote, you would still have questions about things I’ve said in terms of what I believe about this or that. I can’t let you read my mind or heart directly; I can only try to express what’s in my convictions. Whether we like it or not, we are forced to deal with approximations and simply get used to it. That’s a Hebrew trait, by the way.

Upon releasing his podcast on NAR, Heiser immediately had another guest to sort of counter the extremes of the report on the NAR. It was less a defense of the NAR and more an attempt to recognize that no network or movement is monolithic. As I noted in my previous post, there are good people in that network. You should have realized that this meant some good work was done there.

But even the best leaders will fail to reach everyone following them with the true heart of their message. It’s the nature of human mortality; we cannot have a covenant community without a crowd of unredeemed folks who have no real clue. That’s part of why we should always have a law code on hand to supplement our mystical teaching efforts.

The same goes with the NAR movement. Indeed, the research indicates that this network suffers roughly the same level of dead weight dragging them down that I’ve seen with every conventional church I’ve attended. You cannot reform church enough to fix that problem. The danger is getting lost in the effort to accommodate those who don’t have the Holy Spirit in their lives. It’s too easy to establish policies and procedures that end up killing the spirit for everyone who is spirit-filled.

And I’m not surprised that Heiser’s podcast linked above revealed that many leaders in the NAR movement have no idea the kind of criticism that is leveled against them. It’s quite likely some of them have no idea what kind of effects ripple outward from their work that has such a negative impact on the rest of the world.

They have made some choices that I’m sure they hoped would overcome deficits they experienced somewhere else. I know beyond all doubt that this has affected my work over the decades. I’m still having to make mea culpa for some of that. The difference here is that I didn’t build something that has done as much damage as we believe we see coming from the NAR.

I’m in no position to get their attention. I’ve tried, believe me. They ran me out the door. It was only later that I realized why I lacked the standing to address them about their mistakes. They have a phobia about the membership going off on tangents, while I’ve always promoted lay ministries. Now, the best I can do is help my own flock avoid the poisons they have laid in some pastures. Let me point out those poisons.

1. They cling to some very bad doctrines: 7M, 5-Fold Ministries, extra-biblical revelations that clearly contradict the Hebraic ways of Scripture, etc. They read their western value system back into the Bible.

2. They are feudal as we are, but they have made the mistake of clinging to a western social structure. Thus, they have a western feudalism, not the biblical version to which we cling. They exercise a very western style of authority; it’s frankly a Germanic tribal feudalism. This is what makes it resemble our western state-centered punitive culture of oppression. Their patriarchy is very western, not at all shepherd-like.

3. Regardless of their intentions, the net effects of their ministries is a huge population of very zealous people who are quite willing to take destructive radical paths. Their obsession with socio-political change has caused them to make some ugly compromises to gain influence with people like Elon Musk, Trump, etc. It’s getting vary hard to distinguish between NAR and Christian Nationalism.

4. As a consequence, they stand as a growing threat to our community. The people associated with their network espouse a substantial impatience and lack of grace in dealing with our different convictions. Because we are not Zionists, they say we aren’t even Christians, so they have no duty to be graceful with us.

There is essentially no chance of dialogue with them. What’s left for us is to post warning signs. Part of this is to understand how our Enemy is at work in seeking to silence our witness.

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Reprise: New Apostolic Reformation

Posted on September 26, 2026 by ehurst

We are going to take a quick break from Hebrews and examine something very timely here. If the upcoming elections turn against Trump, we might see a surprising backlash coming from a shadowy religious group I’ve written about before.

Maybe you’ve heard the names: Bill Bright, C. Peter Wagner, Paula White, Bethel Church (and Bethel Music), Hillsong, Elevation Church, International House of Prayer, etc. On the fringe you might have heard of Life Church. Here is an excellent current list of major leaders in the NAR: “Top 24 Leaders of the New Apostolic Reformation in the U.S.“. To the degree President Trump has a church affiliation, this is it. However, it is not recognized as a Christian denomination because it is much more like a political movement. The doctrine is somewhat flexible, but the network holds together because of shared ideology and practices.

It leans heavily on cronyism, unquestioned authority figures (apostles and prophets), and an admitted intention to take over the political controls of the world. They are dominionist, a fancy word meaning that they believe the gospel message includes changing the world itself. They adhere to the Seven Mountains Mandate (7M or 7MM): grabbing influence over family, religion, education, media, arts and entertainment, business, and government

They are also Charismatic and Zionist. They tend to be Dispensationalist in some ways, but are more postmillennial in teaching: Christ returns after the Millennium and may prophecies have already come true. This conveniently avoids hindering the range of what their prophets can proclaim about the future. They see themselves building an End Times army of miracle working disciples of Jesus.

Their favorite Bible translation is The Passion Translation by Brian Simmons. Apparently he worked alone, and to no one’s surprise, Bible passages were reworded to support NAR ideology.

Heiser covered the NAR in one of his podcasts. Naked Bible 179: What is the New Apostolic Reformation? I will extract a few notes here.

His special guest, Holly Pivec, did a mountain of research on the NAR. She worked with philosophy professor Doug Geivett who coauthored a book with her on the movement: The New Apostolic Reformation: A Biblical Response to a Worldwide Movement. They also produced a shorter version, God’s Super-Apostles.

A favorite buzz-phrase is “bring Heaven to earth” by gaining miraculous powers. Their leaders claim to have conversations with angels or take trips to Heaven. The apostles and prophets, as part of their 5-Fold-Ministries doctrine, exercise authority over the pastors and other church leaders. Ten years ago this network had something like 3 million American members, along with thousands of congregations around the world. The numbers are difficult to assess because some in the network deny being part of it, yet work directly with known leaders [like LifeChurch].

The Supernatural Schools of Ministry is a sort of stalking horse the NAR uses to gain access to churches and other organizations that ostensibly reject the NAR. It trains people in how develop miracle ministries. The point here is that these ministries are taught, not received as divine appointments.

The 24/7 Prayer Rooms is another such tool. There are also healing rooms and various other special events, such as fasting and praying, where the NAR connection is down-played, yet organized by major figures in the network. They use a sort of 700 Club style word-of-knowledge practice to identify random people to accost and pray with them as a tool of recruitment.

The problem is not the practices, but that they are all promoted in near lock-step by a buddy network of self-appointed leaders who cannot be questioned. These have become signature gimmicks for expanding their influence, under the cover of claiming God has directed these things to grow the Kingdom of Heaven. This is not taught in terms of seeking God’s face, but of asserting that it’s God’s will that sinners (as they define them) will face God’s wrath. They believe words have power; they speak things into existence.

The NAR is notorious for stirring up the notion that if any believers are reluctant to join their activities, that they cannot be called “Christian”. It’s deeply exclusionist. Furthermore, it’s very performance-oriented. These people take themselves very seriously. The least bit of resistance gets you labeled as demonic. Their favorite accusation is “you have a spirit of Jezebel”.

What isn’t obvious is that these people are everywhere, in every city and all over the world. They are intentionally flying under the radar. Their teachings aren’t all that coherent and they discourage anyone noticing.

The 7M is regarded as a new revelation; we would say extra-biblical “revelation”. It’s based on a reinterpretation of Deuteronomy 7:1 where Israel was supposed to conquer the seven nations. They say it’s a variation of the Great Commission, but instead of making individual disciples, the 7M is making disciples of nations. They say it’s how the Great Commission is fulfilled. As you might expect, this makes the NAR a moving target theologically.

To be honest, this movement actually downplays the gospel message of redemption. Instead, they emphasize gaining supernatural powers. To be spiritually alive is all about dreams and visions, miracles, hearing from God, etc. Genuine believers with training in psychology see a lot self-suggestion and bias confirmation going on in their training. It’s a teaching of, “Christ suffered so we don’t have to,” versus taking up your cross.

The danger here is not what you might think. The current leaders aren’t such a danger. What matters is the underlying fabric of ideology. It gives people permission to do some awful things. A lot of rowdiness at the January 6 riot in Washington DC was from people who espouse this thing. The next time, they might show up better organized and more determined to have their way. Remember, the 7M is all about gaining influence over human behavior at large.

There’s a lot of otherwise good people trapped in this movement. I have friends who belong, and some kinfolks who parrot bits and pieces of their teaching. At least a couple of folks appear to have left our community in the past to join that network. The major draw seems to be a heavier investment in End Times fervor and political engagement. The apostles and prophets aren’t likely to attack us, but they support censoring our message. Worse, they draw in a lot of people on the fringes who could easily feel led to threaten us more directly.

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Imprecatory Prayer for America

Posted on September 23, 2026 by ehurst

I’ll give you a model — Psalm 5 in full:

1 Listen to what I say, Lord!
Carefully consider my complaint!
2 Pay attention to my cry for help,
my king and my God,
for I am praying to you!
3 Lord, in the morning you will hear me;
in the morning I will present my case to you and then wait expectantly for an answer.
4 Certainly you are not a God who approves of evil;
evil people cannot dwell with you.
5 Arrogant people cannot stand in your presence;
you hate all who behave wickedly.
6 You destroy liars;
the Lord despises violent and deceitful people.
7 But as for me, because of your great faithfulness I will enter your house;
I will bow down toward your holy temple as I worship you.
8 Lord, lead me in your righteousness
because of those who wait to ambush me,
remove the obstacles in the way in which you are guiding me!
9 For they do not speak the truth;
their stomachs are like the place of destruction,
their throats like an open grave,
their tongues like a steep slope leading into it.
10 Condemn them, O God!
May their own schemes be their downfall!
Drive them away because of their many acts of insurrection,
for they have rebelled against you.
11 But may all who take shelter in you be happy!
May they continually shout for joy!
Shelter them so that those who are loyal to you may rejoice!
12 Certainly you reward the godly, Lord.
Like a shield you protect them in your good favor.

Check it out: Israel Blocking Hundreds of Wheelchairs for Injured Children From Entering Gaza

This is not some random snafu; people who have been watching can tell you that this is Israeli policy. Don’t buy into the “dual use” argument: food is dual use by their definition.

An infamous quote from the funeral of a Zionist activist: “One million Arabs are not worth a Jewish fingernail”. You would be surprise how many Zionists claim that this speaks for them. It is the essence of what Zionism means.

Yes, the POTUS supports this policy of denying Gaza children wheelchairs. Yes, Congress supports it for failing to take the necessary action to stop it. Yes, every Zionist voter in the US supports this action, every Zionist Christian, every Zionist church, etc.

It warrants your imprecatory prayers.

How about something more subtle? It is no less an embarrassment to the conscience of Americans, worthy of imprecatory prayers: A quote from a debate on Hacker News.

> Most people born and raised in the relative freedoms provided in modern democratic systems have no clue what it feels like when you have such dictatorships.

You don’t know what it feels like not because you’re so free, but because you agree with the ruling regime on what it considers the most important questions. Those that don’t agree find themselves blocked from the financial system, debanked, banned or shadowbanned by social media, fired from their jobs, and any pieces of history or research that might shift opinion to their side is suppressed or twisted by popular media into advocating for the opposite.

To give you an example, the rape and severe beating of a black child by white rednecks, depicted in the star-studded film A Time to Kill, was based on a real event. Except in the real event, the victims were white and the rapist was black: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Time_to_Kill_(Grisham_novel)…

As another example, in the 2019 Joker film, where Joaquin Phoenix’s character kills, vigilante-style, a group of unsymphathetic, threatening white finance-bros, as they intimidate passengers on the subway, was based on the real-life shooting by Bernhard Goetz. Again, the real-life perpetrators were black, and not working in finance, or well-paid in general: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joker_(2019_film)…

The film Bad Ass was based on a viral video, in which an elderly white man defeated in a fight a younger black assailant, on a bus. In the film, the assailants are a group of white nazis, and the white man was replaced by a latino: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bad_Ass_(film).

It’s less obvious in films not inspired by real events, but it is just as pervasive.

I would much prefer the dictatorship-style censorship, because our censorship is far, far more effective.

Just one more reminder: Some years ago I spent a lot of time and effort praying and calling on America to repent. It was a divine calling. I went so far as to march cross country with signs calling for repentance, handing out flyers to explain what I was doing. Then the Lord told me to stop because He was closing the window on that call. Now, the nation can no longer repent as a whole, only individuals — and darned few of them, at that.

All that’s left is praying that the guilty are punished so that the innocent are saved. Every covenant shepherd has this duty.

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Hebrews 2-3

Posted on September 19, 2026 by ehurst

Re: Naked Bible 177: Hebrews 2 and Naked Bible 181: Hebrews 3

To be honest, in Hebrews 2, Heiser gets lost in his effort to shut down any talk of angels or elohim being offered redemption. Throughout the entire canon and supporting literature (Second Temple, Apocrypha, Dead Sea Scrolls, etc.) the only object of redemption has only ever been humans. This was never seen as an option for the eternal beings on His staff. If you read the text of Hebrews 2 in any good English translation, this is manifestly obvious. Moreover, when Christ comes to restore all things, humans will be elevated over the angels, taking their place on the throne with the Lord.

Just for good measure, Heiser pulls in references to Colossians 1-2 and chunks of Revelation to get this point across. Nowhere does anyone suggest angels or elohim will have a chance at redemption. For us, there is nothing in that podcast that is even the least bit surprising. About the only new concept he offers is the enduring Old Testament theme that the Law of Moses was revealed through angels, echoed in Hebrew thinking across the centuries. For us, the Law of Christ is revealed in the Son Himself; that’s the point the author of Hebrews makes here. Christ’s superiority to Moses is a recurring theme in this letter.

The focus of the podcast on Hebrews 3 is the believer’s heart. Heiser doesn’t use the heart-led terminology, but there’s no other way to wrestle with this effectively. He raises the question of losing one’s spiritual redemption. There are conditions, but it’s a uniquely Hebrew concept of “conditions”. As always, we must remind ourselves that the Hebrew mind never delved into ontology (the nature of things). It was only a matter of experience and what you could do with it. Hebrews instinctively avoided trying to delve into God’s business.

Whether and how a human would be restored to Eden was God’s business. What He reveals for us to concern ourselves with is whether we truly believe to the point we are committed. Our eternal destiny is “already but not yet” – you aren’t supposed to understand how that works, only what it requires of you. There are no performance measures as humans perceive such things. He says you must keep believing; it must be something inside of you that draws you regardless of human boundaries. The one thing you can think about is your loyalty to Him. Heiser claims here to believe in eternal security. Unfortunately, he leaves the door open to losing it elsewhere.

The comment in verse 5 about Moses as a “servant” is not the Greek word doulos, an ambiguous term which includes slaves, but therapōn – someone who quite willingly serves. Moses was a personal attendant of God, but still not the Son. The testimony of Moses was incomplete, pointing to things that would come later, the fulfillment of the Son. Was it really possible to slip back into Moses after coming to know the Son? If so, then you cannot be part of God’s house. However, in verse 6 the author uses a particular Greek expression that indicates he is optimistic on behalf of his readers that their faith will hold. Indeed, he refers to their “confidence” (Greek parrēsia, in some translations “boldness”), which in Greek grammar indicates a certain audacity to promote something so incredible to the rest of the world.

The passage goes on to warn the Hebrew readers that far too many of their nation had already disqualified themselves from God’s promises. There is a reference to the rebellion of the spies at Kadesh Barnea who discouraged the people from confidence in God’s power to conquer the Nephilim (Numbers 13-14). Their failure was not a matter of obeying the law, but of failure to trust the Lord in what He affirmed. They resolved to select a new leader to take them back to Egypt.

God was ready to wipe them out there and then. Moses interceded on the grounds of God’s reputation, particularly in the context of having destroyed Egypt and triumphed over the elohim ruling there. Thus, God pardoned Israel, but still condemned them to dying in the wilderness over the next forty years. The entire Exodus generation would die without entering the Promised Land of shalom.

In the context of this story his readers knew so well, the author of Hebrews warns them not to rebel like that again. It would be the same thing, only worse. I say: This is a rhetorical flourish you would expect from someone who had learned Greek styles of debate. He says that slipping back into Moses is the same as the crowd trying to go back to Egypt. It’s slavery all over again. It has nothing to do with whether the writer actually believes they would go that far; he’s trying to polarize their thinking about the issue. They cannot go back to Moses.

Heiser doesn’t address this angle of Greek rhetoric. So far as I can see, he never looks at it. It shows up later in this same letter, and I feel Heiser misses the point on that sometimes. He does clarify that failure to understand God or having doubts about what He is doing in your life is not unbelief. Those are simply human emotions working in the flesh. Your heart has the authority to vanquish those quarrels if you learn to live in your heart, not in your intellect or feelings.

Through the end of the podcast, Heiser undermines some of his own talk of eternal security by insisting that you can lose your faith and then repent and get it back. He’s very soft on what we believe to be a clear statement of Scripture that faith is not in our hands, but is a gift of God through the Presence of the Holy Spirit. You can fail to believe – fail to engage the mental process of reckoning on faith. However, you cannot cross that invisible line once the Holy Spirit has entered. We believe that; Heiser didn’t.

We believe the word “salvation” as found in most English translations refers to the blessings of the Covenant here in this world. That’s the Hebrew conception from the Old Testament, and there’s no reason to shift the meaning for the New Testament. You can lose your Covenant salvation by ceasing to be faithful, by going after other gods, so to speak. You cannot simply stop being Elect, since nothing about that was ever in your hands in the first place.

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They Chose Wrong

Posted on September 17, 2026 by ehurst

It makes no difference what nuanced distinctions you make between Jews, Zionists, neocons, etc. If you happen to notice that our lives are worse off because of people who fit these terms, you are an antisemite. As always, the definition of “antisemite” is anyone Jews don’t like. And the people they hate most are people who call them on their unyielding sense of supremacy over the rest of the human race.

The issue is Jewish identity no matter how you slice it. As long as someone regards themselves as Jewish, by any definition, it is a position of supremacy. While not all of them embrace the Talmudic religion, which demands that Jews hate Gentiles (and Christians most of all), there is no doubt it’s a very rare Jewish person who doesn’t regard the rest of the human race with contempt on some level. They barely tolerate those who serve their interests; all of their interests add up to ruling the world.

We can discern some of the various ways they have sought this rule. We can’t possibly know about all of them, but we have several good solid scholars who have traced the various manipulations of Jewish people throughout history around the world. For the most part, they do not use direct force, except when they have an overwhelming tactical advantage. When they do use force, they will not accept any scintilla of criticism from Gentiles about their methods.

Heiser and his associates have exposed to us the biblical Hebrew understanding of how God, at the Tower of Babel, handed over all the nations of the world to subordinate members of His staff. He then appointed Abraham as the progenitor of His own nation. The Old Testament tells the tale of how He favored them, as well as how they eventually surrendered that favor for shallow fleshly concerns. At the Cross, their covenant was translated into a new one.

This New Covenant requires that everyone who wishes to enter must renounce their human identity in favor of one rooted in Christ. That includes Jews. Since they rejected their Messiah and the terms of His reign, they remain a nation without divine patronage. They had to go to someone. Guess what? They were adopted by Satan as his special nation.

At this point, it’s a badge of honor to be called an antisemite. If Jews hate you, there’s a really good chance Satan does, too. We aren’t going to wrest them out of his hands, any more than any of us could flee his authority without the miracle of divine calling. But the Jewish nation is now the special agent of the Devil, more useful to him than the entire balance of unredeemed humanity. They have protection.

Trying to harm them is pointless. Trying to oppose them is unavoidable. So what do we do? The one thing we have left is to denounce them as the Synagogue of Satan, the murderers of Christ. This is the one thing against which they have no defense. Calling attention to the clearly demonstrated spite Israel carries out against the rest of human race is our best weapon. Their arrogance and depravity are off the charts.

Don’t get entangled in hating them; that’s just another of the Devil’s traps. Simply point out how much they love to serve him as the master they chose. Denounce any government or other agency that allies with them. Meanwhile, demonstrate the holiness to which they were called, but which they crucified. Manifest the miracles that once were theirs. Walk in the joy of their Messiah, because He welcomes all of us.

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Facing This Tribulation

Posted on September 13, 2026 by ehurst

We need to get this through our heads: There is no hope for this world. If you take seriously the message of the gospel, that humanity is fallen and in need of redemption from above, then it must necessarily follow that what mankind does without the gospel will never be beneficial to human existence. What we can know and accomplish without Christ is utterly futile against the sorrowful condition of humanity in this world.

We must embrace Christ’s deep cynicism about human government altogether. Jesus made it plain He had no intention of getting involved in the concerns of human government. He didn’t die on the Cross to solve the problems of human government. If the Cross is victory, then obviously this life and its care are not worth much compared to whatever it is His Kingdom seeks to build.

A major element in the rise of the Nation of Israel was a demonstration of what humans would do if God Himself got directly involved in the government of mortals. He made it rather plain how people could live in this world and make the most of the situation. That’s what the time at Mount Sinai was all about. From there, despite God’s very generous and patient efforts, dumping into their lives all the power humans could ever seek over their situation, they simply could not remain loyal to His covenant.

This is the setting into which He sent His Son to make it clear that there is no solution to the human problem. He can explain all day, every day, throughout time, but humans are incapable of getting it right. The only solution is to nail human nature to the Cross. You must submit to Him reaching inside of you and creating a gap between your fleshly nature and your conscious awareness. Your flesh is not the real you. Instead, you’ll spend the rest of your life widening that gap and reducing the influence of the flesh.

While this could mean dying soon after you start down that path, for most of those who submit to Christ, it would mean living for an entirely different reason. At the very least, you are now living to call attention to the huge difference between living for this world and merely living in it.

Christ said His New Covenant Law was simple. First, feudal submission to Him as Lord. Second, love His people as He does. That love is different from what we might offer anyone who isn’t His. It assumes a wealth of background orientation toward the same otherworldly purpose. You might still make a lot of sacrifices for outsiders, but there is no vivid connection between two glowing spirits as long as one is spiritually dead. Whatever we offer to the world at large must be structured to serve as a signal that only a living spirit can recognize.

Don’t take your cues from the world around you. Yes, there are times when it’s best to blend in with the crowd. Your sense of mission and calling will guide you on this. Your convictions will shape your general habits in pursuit of your mission. It is for sure that the context of the moment will provoke your convictions in one way or another. You hold a divine mandate to promote and protect whatever God has granted you as your domain under His authority.

The focus has always been the people, the portion of His family for which you are a shepherd and covering. That’s the one thing you cannot surrender until your divine commission expires. This is what will shape your response to the rising tribulation we face. You should be keeping an eye on the threat and preparing as much as possible to take care of your portion of God’s flock. What will they need? What will you need in order to do that job?

Nobody can nail down for you a schedule of coming events. God has been reticent, likely because, if we knew too much, we would ruin things. Being surprised by the timing and shape of events is part of His plans for us. How will you handle it?

Still, if you are wise in reading your convictions, you may also possess the ability to extrapolate from them some portion of what is coming. If my convictions say to buy some canned goods, it tells me that obtaining food may be somewhat of an issue soon. If my convictions say to make that purchasing a habit, then the timing is unknowable. It’s more about changing habits than specific preparation. It indicates that food will be available, but the selection will be narrow.

Any education you have about general human response to varying conditions will help to steer your expectations. No two of us will have the exact same background, so we should pool our understanding as part of our native compassion for each other. That trouble is brewing should be obvious to anyone.

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Hebrews 1:5-14

Posted on September 12, 2026 by ehurst

Re: Naked Bible 176: Hebrews 1:5-14

We continue with the language of how Jesus is superior to all other created beings. Heiser puts way too much time in debunking JWs here, as they say that Jesus was a created being and got promoted to sonship. Heiser’s disproof is not much stronger than the JW’s proof, nitpicking over words. The real point is that the Greek grammar permits the term “firstborn” as a status or title, not a comment on the chronology of when Jesus came into existence.

So, while the angels are part of the bene elohim (“sons of God”), this is simply a term referring to how their existence is rooted in Heaven. They are part of God’s eternal staff. He never calls them “sons” in the same sense He did Jesus. Instead, upon the birth of Jesus into human form, the angels along with the other bene elohim were required to worship Jesus. The Messiah was His natural son (insofar as God could have such a relationship), not just a member of the divine court.

It turns out that verse 5 contains quotations from Psalm 2:7 and 2 Samuel 7:14. In passing, Heiser mentions that we can think of Jesus’ sonship on three levels: as pre-existent, as seen during His incarnation, and as confirmed in His resurrection. The first quotation from Psalms 2 was a long-recognized Messianic passage that refers to the glorified Jesus; it’s quoted elsewhere (Acts 13 and Hebrews 5). When did Jesus become King? It was after the Cross; go back to Hebrews 1:3.

The other quoted passage here is the Covenant of David (2 Samuel 7:1-14). There, the Lord speaks through Nathan the prophet that He would anoint David’s heir to be His son. The prophetic words are telescopic, referring also to the promised final heir David’s throne, the Messiah. It’s not just about Solomon. Rather, Solomon was a pre-figure of the Messiah, same as Melchizedek.

And over the next few verses, the writer of Hebrews piles on the qualifications of the Messiah over the rest of God’s staff. The angels in particular are Christ’s servants, and eventually ours.

Did you notice that in Psalm 2, parts of it sound exactly like the rebellious elohim council? It reads like almost random thoughts until you place it the rearview mirror of the New Testament and worldview of Deuteronomy 32:8 and Psalm 82. It was cryptic on purpose; they had no idea what God was planning. Instead of them breaking the bonds of God, they would be broken as rulers of the nations. Jesus quotes it in Revelation 2:26-28. Thus, Psalm 2 continues, advising the elohim to make peace with the Son before it’s too late.

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