Michael S. Heiser's Blog, page 29

Naked Bible Podcast Episode 180: Continuing the NAR Discussion with Dr. Michael L. Brown

This episode continues our discussion of the New Apostolic Reformation (NAR) from the previous episode. Our guest on this episode is Dr. Michael L. Brown, biblical scholar and host of the well-known radio show, Line of Fire. Dr. Brown has long been part of the charismatic wing of Christianity and has ministered in a wide variety of capacities in that context. He has also been a persistent internal critic of the abuses and fringe behaviors within the charismatic movement. In this episode Dr. Brown relates his own experience with the NAR as an infrequent point of discussion within charismatic circles. He therefore doubts its validity as a movement, though the general influence of charismatic ministry has had great impact despite clear abuses in doctrine and practice.

MIQLAT YouTube Channel for Testimonies

MIQLAT is starting a YouTube Channel for personal testimonies. The channel will live here. My son Calvin is getting it started now.

We’d like as many people as possible to contribute video testimonies – tell us how you came to the Lord. We want to know how you became a believer.

I grew up as a believer hearing people relate how they came to the faith. It’s powerful even if your testimony is unspectacular (like mine – I will be putting mine up there as well). People need to hear stories about how God works in lives. That’s the purpose of the channel.

Here’s what we need you to do if you want to add your testimony to the channel:

Record a video of yourself telling your story of how you came to Christ. We don’t need anything with high video production value, though if you can record it in HD that’s preferable.
Make sure the video was recorded and that we can hear you (check the audio).
Give your video a file name that includes your first and last name. We’ll use that to title the video.
Subscribe to the MIQLAT newsletter if you have not already done so. We have created a DropBox folder for folks to upload their testimonies. We can’t put the shareable link online for obvious reasons (we don’t need offensive material uploaded to our folder). Consequently, you can only obtain the shareable link by subscribing to the newsletter. Click here to subscribe. The shareable link is in the latest issue of the newsletter and will appear in all newsletter issues going forward.
Use the shareable link and then upload your video file. I presume you will first have to move the video file from your camera to your laptop, and then upload it from your laptop. But maybe there are other ways – such as YouTube. If you upload it to YouTube (maybe you have your own channel), you could just send us a link to it – to calvinheiser@gmail.com).
Download this file: MIQLAT YouTube Channel Video Release Form. It’s a release form. As a non-profit, we are required to keep these on file. It’s one page and says you authorize us to upload your video. Sign and date the form (it also requires a witness, or parents if the video is of a minor), then get it to us in one of two ways: (1) scan it, convert it to PDF and upload it to the same shared folder the video goes into; (2) Take a picture of it and upload the picture to the shared folder. In either case, please put your name in the file name so we can match it to a video. We cannot post your video without your release form.

Calvin Heiser will be handling the videos that we receive. If it’s over 15 minutes, we’ll have to break it up into number segments until YouTube authorizes the channel to upload longer files. That would be in a few weeks.

Please tell friends about the site!

 

Book on Artistic Depiction of Mesopotamian Deities Available Online in PDF

Tallay Ornan’s important book, The triumph of the symbol: Pictorial representation of deities in Mesopotamia and the biblical image ban, is now available as a PDF for free download. Here’s the abstract:

This book analyzes the history of Mesopotamian imagery from the mid-second to mid-first millennium BCE. It demonstrates that in spite of rich textual evidence, which grants the Mesopotamian gods and goddesses an anthropomorphic form, there was a clear abstention in various media from visualizing the gods in such a form. True, divine human-shaped cultic images existed in Mesopotamian temples. But as a rule, non-anthropomorphic visual agents such as inanimate objects, animals or fantastic hybrids replaced these figures when they were portrayed outside of their sacred enclosures. This tendency reached its peak in first-millennium Babylonia and Assyria. The removal of the Mesopotamian human-shaped deity from pictorial renderings resembles the Biblical agenda not only in its avoidance of displaying a divine image but also in the implied dual perception of the divine: according to the Bible and the Assyro-Babylonian concept the divine was conceived as having a human form; yet in both cases anthropomorphism was also concealed or rejected, though to a different degree. In the present book, this dual approach toward the divine image is considered as a reflection of two associated rather than contradictory religious worldviews. The plausible consolidation of the relevant Biblical accounts just before the Babylonian Exile or, more probably within the Exile – in both cases during a period of strong Assyrian and Babylonian hegemony – points to a direct correspondence between comparable religious phenomena. It is suggested that far from their homeland and in the absence of a temple for their god, the Judahite deportees adopted and intensified the Mesopotamian avoidance of anthropomorphic pictorial portrayals of deities. While the Babylonian representations remained confined to temples, the exiles would have turned a cultic reality – i.e., the non-written Babylonian custom – into a written, articulated law that explicitly forbade the pictorial representation of God.

 

Gaia TV-Jaime Maussan Mummy Fraud Exposed

The UFO Watchdog has an informative write-up chronicling the demise of yet another Jaime Maussan fraud: Gaia-Maussan Mummy Comes Unraveled. I can hardly wait until the next one. I wonder what’ll come first … a new phony end of the world date or another Maussan fiasco.

The article features a screenshot of the DNA report below along with commentary:

“This looks to be a single page from a forty-two page report and this page clearly states that a bone sample taken from the hand of the mummy was examined and found to be “a 100% match to Homo sapiens (human).”

There you have it in very plain words; the mummy is human.  End of story.  It should be, but now Gaia.com is saying the results were 99% in an attempt to muddy the waters so they can further attempt to propel this story in an effort to hook more subscribers.  It was predictable that Gaia would put some kind of spin on this to try to keep this story alive.  If Gaia.com was dedicated to the truth they make their mantra, then why have they not released the full DNA report?”

Nice rhetorical question.

Here’s another post on the same testing.

I sincerely hope that Peruvian archaeological authorities investigate everyone involved with an eye toward establishing that human remains were altered and desecrated. That might mean prison, which would be a happy ending.

Naked Bible Podcast Episode 179: Interview with Holly Pivec: What is the New Apostolic Reformation?

The New Apostolic Reformation (NAR) seems to quite clearly justify labeling it a movement or denomination. Millions of people around the world are part of its network of churches. However, many NAR leaders and advocates deny that it’s a denomination or movement. Many Christians who are attracted by NAR teachings and practices have no idea that something called the NAR even exists. For those aware of its influence and presence within Christianity, the NAR has branded itself as representing the return of authoritative apostles and prophets to the modern church, complete with miracles such as healing and raising the dead. On this episode, we talk to Holly Pivec, and authority on the NAR, to learn what it is, what its defining characteristics are, and how we should think about its teachings.

The episode is now live.

Mike on the Multiverse with Josh and Christina Peck Talking about His New Book, The Bible Unfiltered

Here’s the interview!  The Bible Unfiltered: Approaching Scripture on Its Own Terms[image error] is available for pre-order on Amazon now. It ships Oct 4.

New Evidence Neither Aliens Nor Nephilim Were Needed to Build the Pyramids

It made me sad to even have to type that post heading. But let’s face it. It’s news to a lot of people.

Headlines of this sort have been drawing a lot of attention in recent days: Ancient Papyrus Reveals How The Great Pyramid Of Giza Was Built. It’s significant news. The papyrus was actually published a while ago. It seems to be getting recycled because of some new TV shows on the pyramid. The papyrus has been named the “Diary of Merer.” The above news link summarizes its importance:

Merer described how the limestone was taken from Tora on boats, one of which was uncovered at the foot of the pyramids. Stone blocks were ferried across the Nile in a series of purpose-built canals that delivered them as close to the construction site as possible. They were then rolled over on special tracks. The same type of boats might have also been used to transport the granite from Aswan.

Basically, this is primary source evidence on how the blocks were moved to the job site.

In an effort to get you better information than the normal news outlets, here are two articles accessible online about the papyrus and its implications. Enjoy!

Colin Reader, “A Potentially Significant Dimension Recorded on an Old Kingdom Papyrus from Saqqara,” Journal of Ancient Egyptian Architecture 2 (2017): 9-17

Pierre Tallet and Gregory Marouard, “The Harbor of Khufu,” Near Eastern Archaeology 77:1 (2014): 3-13

New Evidence Neither Aliens Nor Nephilim Were Needed to Built the Pyramids

It made me sad to even have to type that post heading. But let’s face it. It’s news to a lot of people.

Headlines of this sort have been drawing a lot of attention in recent days: Ancient Papyrus Reveals How The Great Pyramid Of Giza Was Built. It’s significant news. The papyrus was actually published a while ago. It seems to be getting recycled because of some new TV shows on the pyramid. The papyrus has been named the “Diary of Merer.” The above news link summarizes its importance:

Merer described how the limestone was taken from Tora on boats, one of which was uncovered at the foot of the pyramids. Stone blocks were ferried across the Nile in a series of purpose-built canals that delivered them as close to the construction site as possible. They were then rolled over on special tracks. The same type of boats might have also been used to transport the granite from Aswan.

Basically, this is primary source evidence on how the blocks were moved to the job site.

In an effort to get you better information than the normal news outlets, here are two articles accessible online about the papyrus and its implications. Enjoy!

Colin Reader, “A Potentially Significant Dimension Recorded on an Old Kingdom Papyrus from Saqqara,” Journal of Ancient Egyptian Architecture 2 (2017): 9-17

Pierre Tallet and Gregory Marouard, “The Harbor of Khufu,” Near Eastern Archaeology 77:1 (2014): 3-13

Naked Bible Podcast Episode 178: Why the World Didn’t End on September 23

The short answer: Because the people who said it would are either inept Bible interpreters or false teachers.

For why that’s the case, listen to the episode – recorded on Sept 22.

Description:

September 23 has come and gone. The world didn’t end. Jesus didn’t return. There was no rapture. Planet X (Nibiru) never showed up. Why not? The answers involve both astronomy and sound biblical interpretation. We’ll leave the astronomy to experts in that field. We’ll consider the biblical reasons why the September 23 prophetic date-setting was nonsense. Those reasons are actually transparent, at least if we care about paying attention to the biblical text. In this episode of the podcast, we talk about five features of the passages used by false teachers who promoted Sept 23 as having end-times meaning. Join us for an episode on how to ineptly interpret the Bible.

Are 1 Cor 14:34-35 (“Women Should Keep Silent in the Churches”) Original to Paul’s Letter?

I saw this come up in Twitter today — Larry Hurtado’s comments on a recent study by Philip Payne concerning whether 1 Cor 14:34-35 were originally part of 1 Corinthians. His thoughts are concise and clear, so folks not into textual criticism can get something out of them immediately. Payne’s original article is accessible via a link on Hurtado’s page.

Here are Peter Gurry’s thoughts as well (Evangelical Textual Criticism blog) for good measure.

Very interesting!

(And nice title, Peter!)