Michael S. Heiser's Blog, page 27

Naked Bible Podcast Episodes 187 and 188: Evangelical Theological Society Conference Interviews

It’s that time of year – a new round of interviews with scholars and professors at the annual meetings of the Evangelical Theological Society (ETS). Here are the two episodes into which those interviews were grouped. Stay tuned for interviews from the SBL Meetings as well!

Naked Bible Podcast Episode 187: ETS Conference Interviews, Part 1

In this first installment we talk to Hugh Ross about his new book, Improbable Planet, and his apologetics ministry; Doug Groothuis about anti-intellectual attitudes in the believing Church; Andy Naselli about his new book on “higher life” (Keswick) theology; and Maurice Robinson about his scholarly work on the Byzantine-Majority text type of the New Testament.

Naked Bible Podcast Episode 188: ETS Conference Interviews, Part 2

In this second installment of ETS interviews, Mike chats with Carl Sanders and Ronn Johnson, two long-time friends. In the first part of the conversation with Carl and Ronn, we focused on their own response to “higher life” sanctification and reminisced about our academic and teaching experiences. In Part 2, Mike, Carl, and Ronn conduct a thought experiment to illustrate what biblical-theological geeks do at these meetings by asking Ronn to toss out a new view of the atonement he’s been thinking about and then probing it for strengths and weaknesses.

Naked Bible Podcast Episode 186: Discovering MErcy with Fern and Audrey

Mike and Trey recently visited Fern and Audrey. The visit produced an opportunity not only to share some of the items discussed during that visit, but also new developments in their ministry to trauma survivors. This episode explores some of their work and methods in more detail and highlights a new direction in widening that ministry.

I am not a Prophet

I had not announced it yet (it came about a week or so ago), but I was asked to be on the Jim Bakker show and speak Wed night at his campus (Morningside) service. Last night it came to my attention that my appearance was being billed as “come to hear the prophets” (my name on the promotion). I informed everyone involved in the event that I was canceling my trip in response to that promotion. I am not a prophet, and I won’t allow my name to be used in such a way. I know others parse the language differently, but to my ear it denotes being above other believers. I want nothing to do with that thinking. I’m not above anyone and have no special status in what God is doing.

This whole thing makes me sad. I had planned to marry my “While We Were Yet Sinners” sermon to something about real (not contrived) spiritual warfare (how the NT links the resurrection with the defeat of the cosmic powers). I thought it would be useful to the specific audience, but now it won’t be happening.

If you see something online promoting me as being some sort of prophet, please send them a link to this post. I’d appreciate it.

 

The “Toronto Blessing” and the Kundalini Awakening

This 2002 dissertation is publicly accessible and, for those who wonder about the NAR and its relation to the “Toronto Blessing,” is essential reading:

THE TORONTO BLESSING: AN EXPRESSION OF CHRISTIAN SPIRITUALITY IN THE CHARISMATIC MOVEMENT?

Note the question mark at the end of the title.

Here’s part of the abstract (emphasis added):

Although Charismatics claim that the Toronto Blessing has a sound biblical foundation, no evidence to support this claim has been found. However, striking similarities are found between the manifestations of the Toronto Blessing and the techniques used in the ‘Kundalini awakening’ for the transference of energy. Finally, the major findings of this study support the conclusion that the Toronto Blessing is largely the result of psychological techniques. The possibility of Godly (sic) intervention is not totally excluded, but caution is urged, so as to be aware of extraneous factors that create similar manifestations. While it is agreed that the Toronto Blessing can be seen as an expression of spirituality in a broad sense, nevertheless it cannot be viewed as an expression of Christian spirituality in the Charismatic Movement.

For those unfamiliar with the “Kundalini Awakening,” it’s not something good, at least if one is thinking in any Christian sense. As one site that endorses the idea says, “Kundalini is often described as a dormant serpent energy coiled up at the base of the spine. . . . [continuing with a quotation]: ‘It is said that the serpent is Shakti, a goddess that is legendary for having created all that is. One of two protagonists in a sort of “big bang” origin story, inspired by her longing to be one with Lord Shiva, the other protagonist’.”

You get the idea. Read the rest of the link for more of that sort of thing. Read the dissertation for the “striking similarities” between this quite pagan approach to spirituality and the “Toronto Blessing.”

The above document, as noted, is a doctoral dissertation. For something a lot shorter, though not reviewed by peer scholars, there’s this:

KUNDALINI ENERGY: Yoga’s Power, Influence, and Occult Phenomena in the Church

I’ve long thought (and occasionally said) that what passes for Holy Spirit empowerment in lots of charismatic churches and contexts isn’t. I’ve been into paranormal research long enough to know that the same sorts of things (“slain in the Spirit”; ecstatic tongues, altered states of consciousness that produce visions – see this list of Kundalini effects) can be found in occult religions and practices, the product of either self-inducement, drugs, or evil spirits. Self inducement through various “spiritual” (meditative) disciplines or trauma (physical or psychological) seems like the most prominent category. In any event, we’re not talking about gifts of the Spirit.

Naked Bible Podcast Episode 184: Hebrews 5:11-6:20

Our series on the book of Hebrews continues the writer’s emphasis on the faithful priesthood of Christ – this time as the basis for turning away from a theology of dead works and clinging to faith. The centrality of not turning from the true gospel of faith in the work of Christ and God’s acceptance of the ministry of his Son – of continuing in “believing loyalty” to the gospel – is the central focus of the controversial statements in Heb 6:4-6. Does this passage teach that believers can lose salvation or reject salvation? Is there a difference? What about eternal security? This episode focuses on these questions.

Review of Passion Translation of Song of Songs (Solomon): “Truly Awful”

The first few sentences of this review of the Song of Songs (aka, the Song of Solomon) in the Passion Translation (the one that is enthusiastically promoted by NAR apostles) says it all:

This translation of the Song of Songs is truly awful. As a professor of biblical studies who works with the original languages, I can assure you that this translation does not reflect either the words or the meaning of Song of Songs, contrary to what it claims. It’s not that the translation is careless—rather, it’s eisegesis. It is imposing pre-conceived ideas onto the text and then claiming that the change is due to the translation strategy. It’s terrible!

I’m honestly stunned at how off the mark this translation is. It claims to be bringing out the real meaning of Song of Songs, but it’s really just thrusting someone’s own wishful ideas about it onto the readership. If you want to understand Song of Songs, then please, avoid this translation.

The review was written by George Athas, a scholar well known to us in Hebrew Bible and Semitics. He is Director of Postgraduate Studies at Moore Theological College and Lectures in Old Testament, Hebrew and Church History.

Ordinarily, this sort of review would have me in stitches. But I’m not laughing. As I’ve blogged previously, the Passion Translation is the work of Brian Simmons, who claimed that Jesus himself told him to produce it:

As I noted earlier, the description of Simmons from the translation’s own website doesn’t provide any indication that Simmons has the skills to produce a translation from the original texts. His credential is being a linguist, church planter, and Bible translator for the Paya-Kuna people of Panama (Simmons worked with New Tribes Bible Institute). Being someone who translates the Bible into a modern language (especially a language that doesn’t have a Bible translation) does not guarantee the translator knows Greek, Hebrew, and Aramaic. I know that because I know people who have translated the Bible into such languages (tribal) who don’t know any of the biblical languages. They use an English translation (or whatever their own first language is) and, perhaps, tools keyed to Strong’s numbers. The results are quite serviceable, so I’m not being critical of the method. I’m being critical of the deceptive marketing. The marketing for the Passion Translation suggests it’s a translation from the originals that is chock-full of insights heretofore neglected or missed. It isn’t, as Athas notes in his review.

Another misleading aspect to all this is the way Simmons’ credentials are promoted — to create the impression he’s an original languages expert and knows what he’s doing in translation. Simmons has a doctorate, but not in biblical languages. It’s in “apostolic leadership,” whatever that means. It’s from Wagner University, named after it’s founder C. Peter Wagner, a highly-influential figure in the NAR. Here are the core courses for this doctorate, from the Wagner University website:

Apostolic Leadership
Dominion Theology and Kingdom Mandate
Kingdom Finances and the Great Transfer of Wealth
New Church Planting and Governance
Marketplace Ministry and BAM Movement
Revival, Reformation and Societal Transformation
World Evangelism and Cross-Cultural Missions

Here are the electives:

Activating Your Five-Fold Destiny
Apostolic Centers
Activating the Apostolic
Growth Dynamics of New Apostolic Churches
Apostolic Breakthrough

Sounds positively grueling.

But more to the point, I haven’t found any evidence at all that Simmons has ever taken a Greek or Hebrew course. Maybe he has, but it’s not easy to find out. But as noted above, if you’re doing translation work in new tribes and their languages, you don’t need one. You just need a good primary language translation and a procedural knowledge of the grammar of that language, semantics, and of course the target language. I think it likely, especially after Athas’ comments, is that Simmons’ began with an English translation and then went about the task of reading his charismatic theology into the text. That’s even more likely given the way Simmons described his own knowledge of the biblical languages in an interview:

[Interviewer] Jonathan Welton: “When you started this project were you, had you already had training in Greek and Hebrew? Or was this something you had to jump into again?”

Brian Simmons: “I had minimal background in biblical languages, so yeah it was something, honestly, it was something the Lord has really helped me with.” (14:52)

Awesome. Let’s stop requiring biblical languages and just let the Lord teach them to us. This is a shameful attempt to justify not being prepared for the sacred task of handling the Scriptures. It’s Idiocracy come to the Church … or attributing eisegesis to the Spirit.

The interview includes a number of mis-guided statements about Aramaic and its use in translating books that weren’t originally in Aramaic. Simmons apparently makes use of Lamsa’s ENGLISH translation of the NT in Aramaic. As I have noted a number of times, there is no evidence that the NT was composed in Aramaic, and Lamsa’s translation itself has been brutally reviewed by a real expert. The Greek NT was eventually translated into Aramaic/Syriac (Peshitta). Simmons is apparently referencing that material (no doubt mediated through Lamsa and other tools — like the ones my company creates) — and then convincing the ignorant that he’s working with primary texts. This is deceptive and misleading. It’s sort of like the things I deal with when I confront ancient aliens theorists who say ancient texts refer to alien visitation (think Zecharia Sitchin). They make claims about primary texts, inserting their own ideas into those texts. It’s either incompetence or dishonesty. Neither has a place in the Body of Christ.

 

New Online Hebrew Transliteration Tool

I sometimes get email asking about transliteration (and pronunciation) of Hebrew words. Transliteration can help folks who want to try and pronounce Hebrew. This new online tool allows you to paste in Hebrew text and get an instant transliteration (an accurate one, not the sort of thing you see in Strong’s tools). Your Hebrew input needs to be Unicode font. You also don’t have to worry about accent marks messing with the results if you use Unicode. In the example below I pasted in something from LHB in Logos (Lexham Hebrew Bible). It worked fine because Logos is Unicode. If you are using online tools, then the Hebrew text you’d fine at blueletterbible and sefaria would also work fine.

I input the first three words of Deut 32:8 and submitted it. You can see the transliterated results.

 

PEERANORMAL Episode 12: Zombies

Are zombies real or just something Hollywood is into nowadays? If you’ve ever seen the movie The Serpent and the Rainbow, you know the question is legitimate. That movie was based on a book by Wade Davis, who earned his PhD in part on the basis of his research into “zombification” in Haiti. Davis and others theorize that zombies are real, and that they are the result of specific drugs given to individuals against their will that produce zombie-like states and behavior. The modern drug Flakka is a current, frightening example. Other researchers disagree, noting that zombie lore is very old and encompasses notions that sound a lot like demonization and possession. This episode of PEERANORMAL explores the topic just in time for Halloween.

New Book: The Biblical Canon Lists from Early Christianity

This book looks like an excellent reference for anyone interested in the study of the biblical canon: The Biblical Canon Lists from Early Christianity: Texts and Analysis[image error].

A brief discussion of the book by one of its authors can be found here. The book will ship in January 2018. That summary reads in part:

The main attraction of the book–the reason you’ll want your own copy–is because John and I have collected all the biblical canon lists from the first four centuries of Christianity, and we present them in the original languages and English translation (in parallel columns) with introductions and extensive notes. So, you’ve heard so much about the 39th Festal Letter of Athanasius, which listed for the first time in history the exact 27 books of the NT that we now accept, and you’d like to read the letter for yourself–our book has it, or the extant portions in Greek, anyway, with an English translation. Read the letter for yourself.

Not Your Typical Mainstream Media Yuck-fest: Newsweek Special Edition on the Search for Alien Life

Alejandro Rojas has a short description of the recent special edition of Newsweek. Here’s his first paragraph:

Newsweek recently released a special edition magazine titled Life Beyond Earth? The Mission to Find the Answer, and while one might expect it to be dominated by stories about NASA’s search for extraterrestrial microbes, or the SETI Institutes search for extraterrestrial radio signals, instead it is full of information about topics such as UFO investigations and alien abductions. That may make some of our readers cringe in fear of ridicule, but the stories are balanced and largely treat the topics positively.

Click through to read the rest of Alejandro’s post — and get the issue!