“Rebellion against God results in being cast out of his service. God doesn't run the affairs of the spiritual world or our world with rebels on his payroll. They are cast to the Underworld (in the case of the Eden rebel), or a special place in the Underworld (e.g., the offenders of Genesis 6:1-4, who are, to quote Peter and Jude, "kept in chains of gloomy darkness" or "sent to Tartarus"). There are more divine rebels than that in the Bible, but hopefully that scratches the surface enough.” WorldEnoughRunningSpiritualDarknessSpecialDivineAffairHopefullyRebellionRebelGenesisGloomyPayroll Author:Michael S. Heiser
“The powers of darkness are still part of the spiritual world - they don't become something else when they rebel against God. Disembodied believers are, by definition, also part of the spiritual world. So are God and Christ.” WorldSpiritualChristDarknessBelieverRebel Author:Michael S. Heiser
“The truth is that we don't know much about the spiritual world except for what Scripture tells us, so it's unwise to think we can speak with clarity about what a divine being can or cannot do. The tools of analyzing the natural world are of no use for analyzing the supernatural world. For the latter we need rules of logic, and the supernatural beliefs of the biblical writers are quite defensible in that arena.” ThinkingWorldSpiritualBeliefSpeakNaturalDivineTruth IsLogicScriptureClarityBiblicalNatural WorldUnwise Author:Michael S. Heiser
“Why are you uncomfortable with the supernaturalist worldview of the biblical writers? Evangelicals don't want to just say, "Well, the inspired writers were wrong about some of their beliefs about the spiritual world and its inhabitants." That really doesn't work in a confessional situation! So instead we come up with excuses and interpretations that allow us to remake the biblical writers in our own post-Enlightenment image. I understand that impulse, but it's not honest.” WorldSpiritualBeliefSituationHonestInspiredExcuseImpulseUncomfortableBiblicalWorldview Author:Michael S. Heiser