Demons

What the Bible Really Says About the Powers of Darkness

De: Michael S. Heiser

Narrado por: Gordon Greenhill

The truth about demons is far stranger - and even more fascinating - than what's commonly believed.

Are demons real? Are they red creatures with goatees holding pitchforks and sitting on people's shoulders while whispering bad things? Did a third of the angels really rebel with Satan? Are demons and "principalities and powers" just terms for the same entities, or are they different members of the kingdom of darkness? Is the world a chaotic mess because of what happened in Eden, or is there more to the story of evil?

What people believed about evil spiritual forces in ancient biblical times is often very different than what people have been led to believe about them today. And this ancient worldview is missing from most attempts to treat the topic.

In Demons, Michael Heiser debunks popular presuppositions about the very real powers of darkness. Rather than traditions, stories, speculations, or myths, Demons is grounded in what ancient people of both the Old and New Testament eras believed about evil spiritual forces and in what the Bible actually says. You'll come away with a sound, biblical understanding of demons, supernatural rebellion, evil spirits, and spiritual warfare.

©2020 Lexham Press (P)2020 Lexham Press

Eye opening

Loved it. I truly have a better understanding of the topic. I'm glad that I came across this really insightful book.

Awesome!

This book is the WHOLE DEAL - everything you've ever wanted to know about evil spirits according to the Bible (and other ancient texts). It's deep stuff, and complex - not for beginners! I had to read it twice to understand everything. But once I did, I feel that I now really DO understand everything about the subject!

Powerful insight!

This book answered so many questions for me, especially relations between the apocrypha and the Bible. Very well done. God bless you

Unclear on who the devil is

I’ve read all of Dr. Heiser’s books, he is incredibly smart and level headed—— a conservative Christian who addresses the topics that no one wants to talk about in churches.

That said, I “feel” (I hate using that phrase) that it’s unclear from this book regarding who the actual leader of the forces of darkness is.

There’s a LOT of reliance on the original languages, which is good—- although the strong impression I get is that “the Word of God cant’t be accurately understood if you don’t know Hebrew”. I’m specifically referring to satan.

So who is the main bad guy? Is it satan? Azazel? Shemjazah? I get it, the 2nd temple Jews “invented” or imported a name on the leader. And Heiser does say that it makes sense that they have a leader. But the constant, “Satan is a position not a person” statements frankly cause confusion—— put bluntly, if satan as a person is made up, then who is Christ referring to when he flatly tells the Jews questioning him that their father is “the devil”, or a plethora of other references to “the devil” as a person?

I 1,000% understand the concept of cultural norms or thought processes of the people alive during the time the works were written. But I think it’s a slippery slope to say things like “according to Mark, the devil is _________” when the person Mark is quoting is literally Jesus/God Himself. Apply that line of thinking to anyone else who authored a canonical book. Ultimately, It’s not really “according to Paul” or whoever, it’s according to God via inspiration.

Can we PLEASE have a blunt, bottom line up front bullet point list that looks something like this:

-the devil is ________

-the devil is not _______, ______, or _____.

-etc

Also, I think there’s a glaring issue here that no one addresses. The watchers who rebelled and are in chains/imprisoned. I assess them as being so evil that they are literally the worst of the fallen angels, hence locking them up. Is that the case? Aren’t they worse than the devil himself? After all, to our knowledge, the devil didn’t sleep with human women. Unless of course “satan” is azazel—— and if that’s the case, isn’t azazel in chains in everlasting darkness? How then can someone in chains roam around for the whole of human history messing with the nations?

I greatly appreciate the book but frankly I have more unanswered questions now then I did before I read this one. I still rate this thing very highly. Perhaps I just missed some details.

The cross overcomes demons

there were many many more facts than I could keep track of. but what I could it was most interesting.