The Unseen Realm: Recovering the Supernatural Worldview of the Bible

by Michael S. Heiser

The nations would again be his.

Then why give them up in the first place?

The “end of the earth” in the days of Luke, and of course the apostle Paul, was the extent of the Roman Empire.

I'm sure Paul and others were aware that the Roman Empire was not the whole world.

Paul was conscious that his mission for Jesus actually involved spreading the gospel to the westernmost part of the known world—Tarshish—so that the disinheritance at Babel would be reversed.

And he didn't care about Britain? What about Ireland? Rome knew it was there. Maybe he had other reasons than your nationalistic impulses.

nations were not forgotten—in

That's a nice euphemism for abandonded to traitorous gods.

We saw in the last chapter that Paul understood God’s plan of infiltration in the wake of Pentecost and, once confronted by Jesus on the road to Damascus, his own role in that plan.

So he understood the plan before his conversion. I mean this is probably just a messed up sentence but wow that's bad.

The New Testament is silent

Except its not, and trying to discredit Rev 12 about the war in heaven taking place after the messiah is born doesn't work because you ignored the dragon taking a third of the stars which is listed before the birth.

The origin of demons in Jewish texts outside the Bible (such as 1 Enoch) is attributed to the events of Genesis 6:1–4. When a Nephilim was killed in these texts, its disembodied spirit was considered a demon. These demons then roamed the earth to harass humans. The New Testament does not explicitly embrace this belief, though there are traces of the notion, such as demon possession of humans (implying the effort to be re-embodied).

Again you can't prove anything you believe by the Bible. The books of Enoch are not biblical and using them for your theology while claiming biblical authority is wrong.

Additionally, the phrase “god of this age” may refer to God himself.

You are out of your mind.

The term is used in Deuteronomy 32:17 to translate the “demons” (Hebrew: shedim), who are called elohim in that same verse, who had seduced

Yeah except it doesn't. Everyone but the KJV translates it as wild goats, not goat demons.

other gods (theoi) and lords among people who did not belong to Yahweh and Jesus

And yet Paul says they are not gods because we believe in only one God.

“seated him at his right hand in the heavenly places, far above every ruler [archē]

Or, as you said before, this is dealing with earthly rulers. Leave the Pseudo-Dionysus stuff to the fantasy writers.

These gods and lords are considered real by Paul and are a threat to believers (1 Cor 10:20–21).

Which is why he tells people not to eat food offered to idols so we don't offend the conscience of some not as strong.

Satan is leader of at least some of the powers of darkness.

But its a job title for someone on the council.

cosmic geography is plainly telegraphed.

Sure as long as we hold to every presuposition you make.

2 Enoch 21:3

Yay another book not in the Bible you want to shoehorn in to prove a theory you can't hold from the Bible alone.

That imprisonment is behind the reference to the “spirits in prison”

From the books of Enoch to the Harrowing of Hell? What next, Jesus was English because He spent a summer in England with Joe of Arimathea?

Tartarus was part of the underworld

IN GREEK MYTH!!!! It is a metaphor, nothing more!

Jesus descending to these same “spirits in prison” to tell them they were still defeated, despite his crucifixion. God’s plan of salvation and kingdom rule had not been derailed—in fact, it was right on schedule.

So Jesus went to rub their noses in it? That's petty but hey, it's your fanfic.

erring believer would be saved in the end, but care must be taken to avoid self-destructive sinful behavior from leading other believers astray.

Why? If they can't reject salvation after saying the magic words, why can't they live in sin? The admonition only makes sense if there is a real chance of denying salvation.

Recall that the Israelites viewed their land as holy ground

So no one wore shoes? You take your shoes off on holy ground.

Once people dispersed, Yahweh disinherited them, putting them under the authority of lesser elohim

Meanwhile Melchizedek just over here chillin being a high priest of Yahweh and not related to Abram at all.

Yahweh and his council gave the fledgling nation of Israel

Different council though right? Because all the others rebelled at Babel.

Yahweh had summoned foreign armies under the command of other gods

So He commanded the gods who you said betrayed Him? How does that work exactly?

fanciful.

You believe in pornoangels and have the nerve to call someone else's belief fanciful?

The antichrist would come from the tribe of Dan,

So we can't trust the church fathers about a mountain location but we can on the antichrist? And how can you claim it as being part of Judaism when you only sight two Christians!

Megiddo doesn’t fit the profile in any way.

That's an awful lot of conjecture on your part to then claim a victory. Not that I think the place setting actually matters, but flying in the face of all the scholarship just to further boost your zionist agenda is a lot.

Most aren’t going to pursue a PhD in biblical studies,

Most also can't afford stuff like that and have to pay bills. I'd love to do this but money won't allow it. Which is why it is really galling when someone who has all this priviledge writes something so incredibly poor thought out but rests on his academic achievements.