As the author of Historical Accuracy: Which Sad Calamity Has Caused God to Turn His Face Away?, it is my business to know what is going on in my market segment. Also, since Jesus, Interrupted (2010) is the most important Bart Ehrman paperback book for me, knowing how well it is doing on the New Testament Criticism & Interpretation list is also a reason for me to take note of what is happening with this list.
#1: Nobody Left Out: Jesus Meets the Messes: a 40-Day Devotional for Messy, Broken People (Like Me!)
by Michael Murray; 686 ratings – avg 5 stars
#2 The Case for Christ (audio version)
by Lee Strobel; 6,256 ratings – avg 5 stars
#3 The Prodigal God: Recovering the Heart of the Christian Faith
by Timothy Keller; 2,508 ratings – avg 5 stars
#4 Reversing Hermon: Enoch, the Watchers, and the Forgotten Mission of Jesus Christ
by Dr. Michael S. Heiser; 1,027 ratings – avg 5 stars
#5 The Visual Word: Illustrated Outlines of the New Testament Books
by Patrick Schreiner; 5 ratings – avg 4.5 stars #1 New Release in New Testament Criticism & Interpretation
#6 Evidence That Demands a Verdict: Life-Changing Truth for a Skeptical World (Hardcover – Illustrated)
by Josh McDowell & Sean McDowell, PhD; 1,352 ratings – avg 5 stars
#7 Seven Things I Wish Christians Knew about the Bible
by Michael F. Bird; 14 ratings – avg 5 stars
#8 The New Testament in Its World: An Introduction to the History, Literature, and Theology of the First Christians
by N. T. Wright and Michael F. Bird; 589 ratings – avg 5 stars
#16 Jesus, Interrupted: Revealing the Hidden Contradictions in the Bible (And Why We Don’t Know about Them)
by Bart Ehrman; 966 ratings – avg 4.5 stars
Heiser has taught college since 1992 and was the Scholar in Residence for Logos Bible Software.[11]
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Dr. Michael S. Heiser
Reversing Hermon is a groundbreaking work. It unveils what most in the modern Church have never heard regarding how the story of the sin of the Watchers in 1 Enoch 6-16 helped frame the mission of Jesus, the messiah.
Steve Campbell, author of Historical Accuracy
Jesus died for the sins of the Watchers?
Dr. Michael S. Heiser
Jews of the first century expected the messiah to reverse the impact of the Watchers transgression. For Jews of Jesus day, the Watchers were part of the explanation for why the world was so profoundly depraved. The messiah would not just revoke the claim of Satan on human souls and estrangement from God, solving the predicament of the Fall. He would also not only bring the nations back into relationship with the true God by defeating the principalities and powers that governed them. Jews also believed that the messiah would rescue humanity from self-destruction, the catalyst for which was the sin of the Watchers and the influence of what they had taught humankind.
The role of Enoch’s retelling of Genesis 6:1-4 is how New Testament writers wrote of Jesus and the cross has been largely lost to a modern audience. Reversing Hermon rectifies that situation. Topics include:
understanding Genesis 6:1-4 and the Sin of the Watchers in Their Original Context
how the ancient Mesopotamian story of the apkallu aligns with Gen 6:1-4, was preserved in 1 Enoch, and sets the stage for the theme of reversing the evil of the Watchers;
how the theme of reversing the transgression of the Watchers colors the gospel accounts of the birth of Jesus, his genealogy, and his ministry;
how the writings of Peter and Paul allude to the sin of the Watchers and present Jesus as overturning the disastrous effects of their sins against humanity;
and how the descriptions of the antichrist, the end-times Day of the Lord, and the final judgment connect to Genesis 6 and the nephilim.
Heiser has credentials and the languages but he is credulous, almost a fundamentalist. He thinks the Watchers and demons are real and that Genesis is historical, including Adam and the Flood.
Josh McDowell is a Christian apologist and his book is rubbish. Sorry, but you did ask.
Stephen said
Heiser has credentials and the languages but he is credulous, almost a fundamentalist. He thinks the Watchers and demons are real and that Genesis is historical, including Adam and the Flood.Josh McDowell is a Christian apologist and his book is rubbish. Sorry, but you did ask.
Does Heiser solve the problem of Jesus crossing the line in the sand into cannibalism and attempting to outdo Yom Kippur because transcending the nature of human sin, his sacrifice was needed for the sins of the Watchers?
Josh McDowell’s book may be rubbish to you, but I have to write a draft 300 words minimum about his book.
Why?
The title of my book, Historical Accuracy, may not be a strong title even with the hook, Which Sad Calamity Has Caused God to Turn His Face Away?
I need to test market my book under a different title.
The Best Sellers in Christian Bible Criticism & Interpretation
#5 The Unseen Realm: Recovering the Supernatural Worldview of the Bible
by Dr. Michael S. Heiser; 4,026 ratings – avg 5 stars
In The Unseen Realm, Dr. Michael Heiser examines the ancient context of Scripture, explaining how its supernatural worldview can help us grow in our understanding of God. He illuminates intriguing and amazing passages of the Bible that have been hiding in plain sight. You’ll find yourself engaged in an enthusiastic pursuit of the truth, resulting in a new appreciation for God’s Word.
- Why wasn’t Eve surprised when the serpent spoke to her?
- How did descendants of the Nephilim survive the flood?
- Why did Jacob fuse Yahweh and his Angel together in his prayer?
- Who are the assembly of divine beings that God presides over?
- In what way do those beings participate in God’s decisions?
- Why do Peter and Jude promote belief in imprisoned spirits?
- Why does Paul describe evil spirits in terms of geographical rulership?
- Who are the “glorious ones” that even angels dare not rebuke?
After reading this book, you may never read your Bible the same way again.
Stephen said
Heiser has credentials and the languages but he is credulous, almost a fundamentalist. He thinks the Watchers and demons are real and that Genesis is historical, including Adam and the Flood.
Steefen
“He thinks demons are real.” Good. That should help us with people who know Lucifer, Satan, Molech are real.
His Kingdom Comes in Power: The Battle
by Jessie Czebotar
110 ratings avg 5 stars
This large print (8.5 x 11 paperback) original version of His Kingdom Comes In Power is a series written by Chaplain Jessie Czebotar. The first book describes the unseen battle we are in and addresses questions many ponder about our unseen enemy. Is Satan real? How does he operate? How can we defeat him? How do we go from surviving the enemy’s attacks to being overcomers on the offense? Get answers to these questions in this book series. For more information visit illuminatethedarkenss.com.
Good. That should help us with people who know Lucifer, Satan, Molech are real.
Here she is talking about her life.
Outside of my scope of interest.
I may have listened to 20 minutes of this video but in that time, she tells us about the reality of evil and evil characters.
** you do not have permission to see this link **
Steefen please don’t pollute your mind with this paranoid conspiratorial garbage. These folks live in a darkness of ignorance and delusion.
A doctrine insulates the devout not only against the realities around them but also against their own selves. The fanatical believer is not conscious of his envy, malice, pettiness and dishonesty. There is a wall of words between his consciousness and his real self.
-Eric Hoffer
“I have a feeling,” Harry said finally, “that we’re coming at this from the wrong angle. There’s a tale I once heard about some students who came into a physics class, and the teacher showed them a large metal plate near a fire. She ordered them to feel the metal plate, and they felt that the metal nearer the fire was cooler, and the metal further away was warmer. And she said, write down your guess for why this happens. So some students wrote down ‘because of how the metal conducts heat’, and some students wrote down ‘because of how the air moves’, and no one said ‘this just seems impossible’, and the real answer was that before the students came into the room, the teacher turned the plate around.”
“Interesting,” said Professor Quirrell. “That does sound similar. Is there a moral?”
“That your strength as a rationalist is your ability to be more confused by fiction than by reality,” said Harry. “If you’re equally good at explaining any outcome, you have zero knowledge. The students thought they could use words like ‘because of heat conduction’ to explain anything, even a metal plate being cooler on the side nearer the fire. So they didn’t notice how confused they were, and that meant they couldn’t be more confused by falsehood than by truth. If you tell me that the centaurs were under the Imperius Curse, I still have the feeling of something being not quite right. I notice that I’m still confused even after hearing your explanation.”
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Hi Stephen,
I wish the real world did not have stories like the one Jessie Czebotar told.
I can also say, I wish World War II did not happen. World War II was not a conspiracy. We cannot just say these things never happened.
We need police people to protect us. We need intelligence, security, and military to protect us. From Lord of the Flies to who knows what, we cannot underestimate the capacity of humans to misbehave. Misbehaving humans should not be ignored.
Steefen
Stephen said
Steefen what evidence do you have that World War 2 actually took place? Now apply those same criteria to the existence of the Global Luciferian Order.
Easy: check and see if there is any history. Yes there is.
** you do not have permission to see this link **
You do not have to take on the role of a second grade teacher? Your role is not to protect second graders from the facts of life.
Second, the Gulf of Tonkin incident/the USS Maddox incident was not a conspiracy theory, even before it was acknowledged. It was a fact that people were conspiring.
Third, the The Tuskegee Study of Untreated Syphilis in the Negro Male was not a conspiracy theory, even before it was acknowledged. It was a fact that people were conspiring.
Fourth, the Wuhan Lab Origin was not a conspiracy theory, even before it was acknowledged. It was a fact that people who depended on funding and people in the media were conspiring.
Fifth, the Watergate Hotel was not a conspiracy theory, even before it was acknowledged. It was a fact that Nixon was conspiring.
Never said people do not conspire. (Wonderful etymology – con “with, together” + spirare “to breathe”, literally “to breathe together”.)
The fact that one group conspires doesn’t validate the truth of all suggested conspiracies. You need evidence for each and every one. (For example there’s still no evidence that the covid virus originated in a Chinese lab.) What I am critiquing is the conspiracy theory of history. That history is best interpreted as the result of the machinations of Dark Forces behind the scenes. (Who, strangely enough, are all powerful but too clumsy to keep themselves a secret.)
On the contrary history is largely contingent and probabilistic. Stuff just happens. The best example is that 65 million years ago a comet or meteor crashed into the earth at the spot currently known as the Yucatan. This catastrophe resulted in a mass extinction of life on earth that not only famously wiped out the dinosaurs but cleared out the competitors in the ecosystem of our ancestors (small rodent like creatures that lived in the roots of plants) allowing them to thrive; eventually producing, us. We owe our domination of this world not to a special creation but to the celestial equivalent of a traffic accident.
The conspiratorial mind recoils at this idea. It just can’t be that JFK was assassinated, and the course of history changed, by a sniveling nobody who happened to be at the right place at the right time. No! There must be Dark Forces at work. This at least gives meaning to the one who cannot dispassionately consider the abyss over which we abide.
Steefen
Reversing Hermon: Enoch, the Watchers, and the Forgotten Mission of Jesus by Michael S. Heiser
This seems to be new territory for me:
What is the sin of the watchers
What does the sin of the watchers have to do with Jesus’ birth, genealogy, and ministry?
What does the sin of the watchers have to do with Jewish Apocalypticism
Was the ancient antichrist profile Jewish or Gentile?
Evidence that demands a verdict and the Case for Christ because the readers of those books should read my book.
Those three books, but I also have on my list
The Lost Gospel: The Book of Q
Michael and Christ
Herod Antipas
If I could only have 3 of the 6, they would be
Herod Antipas: Did he think he would be the Messiah by bringing regional kings against his friend Claudius
Wait a second: this is not the book I want. I want a book about Agrippa I, not Herod Antipas.
Reversing Hermon: Heiser may have a lot to teach about the Book of Enoch
Evidence that demands a verdict: I think that book really does not know the history of Egypt during the time of the biblical Saul, David, and Solomon.
Reversing Hermon: Enoch, the Watchers, and the Forgotten Mission of Jesus by Michael S. Heiser
This seems to be new territory for me:
What is the sin of the watchers
What does the sin of the watchers have to do with Jesus’ birth, genealogy, and ministry?
What does the sin of the watchers have to do with Jewish Apocalypticism
Was the ancient antichrist profile Jewish or Gentile?
Evidence that demands a verdict and the Case for Christ because the readers of those books should read my book.
Those three books, but I also have on my list
The Lost Gospel: The Book of Q
Michael and Christ
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If I could only have 3 of the 5, they would be
Reversing Hermon: Heiser may have a lot to teach about the Book of Enoch
Evidence that demands a verdict: I think that book really does not know the history of Egypt during the time of the biblical Saul, David, and Solomon.
The Case for Christ: See what Dr. Bruce Metzger has to say about Documentary Evidence; Jesus as the Son of God; Jesus had the attributes of God; Was Jesus a Messiah; Strobel’s Verdic
Rejects:
Michael and Christ: Chapter 4 Michael and Philo’s Logos Doctrine BUT this gets into the weeds
What is the sin of the watchers
By taking human women as sex partners they committed a boundary violation of the fixed domain of spiritual purity. This is a Jewish apocalyptic view of the origin of sin, an alternative to the myth of the “Fall” of Adam and Eve.
What does the sin of the watchers have to do with Jesus’ birth, genealogy, and ministry?
Jesus freed believers from the cosmic powers of sin and evil that dominate the world.
What does the sin of the watchers have to do with Jewish Apocalypticism
The story of the Watchers seized the religious imagination of the Jewish apocalypticists.
Was the ancient antichrist profile Jewish or Gentile?
Second Temple Judaism was thoroughly Hellenized. The spirit of antichrist was a figure representing the cosmic powers of evil and sin in direct opposition to the spirit of Christ.
Reversing Hermon: Heiser may have a lot to teach about the Book of Enoch
Evidence that demands a verdict: I think that book really does not know the history of Egypt during the time of the biblical Saul, David, and Solomon.
The Case for Christ: See what Dr. Bruce Metzger has to say about Documentary Evidence; Jesus as the Son of God; Jesus had the attributes of God; Was Jesus a Messiah; Strobel’s Verdic
These books are all ground through a fundamentalist sifter. If you really want to get useful information about the Book(s) of Enoch stick to the scholarly stuff. Go ** you do not have permission to see this link **. You’ll see a lot of editions of the Book of Enoch drawn from the old translation of R H Charles. This is because his work is in the public domain. The Book of Enoch has been seized upon by many non-scholars with all kinds of axes to grind and mystical theories to indulge. A word to the wise is sufficient.
The other two books are attempts at Christian apologetics, trying to convince people there is a reasonable sounding case for converting to fundamentalist Christianity, using very bad very simple minded arguments. You would expect an unbeliever such as myself to think they are junk but I know very intelligent thoughtful Christian believers who think they are junk too. Knock yourself out.
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