What Was Paul’s Thorn In The Flesh?

February 3, 2012 3 Comments

And lest I should be exalted above measure by the abundance of the revelations, a thorn in the flesh was given to me, a messenger of Satan to buffet me, lest I be exalted above measure. Concerning this thing I pleaded with the Lord three times that it might depart from me. And He said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for My strength is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore most gladly I will rather boast in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me. Therefore I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in needs, in persecutions, in distresses, for Christ’s sake. For when I am weak, then I am strong. (2 Corinthians 12:7-10)

T. De Witt Talmage, one of America’s most prominent preachers in the late 1800s, put it best when he said, “Many of the theological doctors have felt Paul’s pulse to see what was the matter with him.” Boy, have they ever! The question “What was Paul’s thorn in the flesh?” is one of the most well known in all of Christianity. So I thought I’d write a blog post and offer the correct answer so I could clear up the debate once and for all. Yeah, right.

What I will do is name the two contenders for the “best answer” category. Ready? Here we go.

Possible answer #1: The thorn in the flesh was some kind of physical ailment with which Paul struggled continually.

In Galatians 4:13-15, Paul does speak of preaching the gospel in “physical infirmity” and “my trial which was in my flesh.” He also says of the Galatian Christians, “…you would have plucked out your own eyes and given them to me.” If we take that literally, Paul had a problem with his eyes and perhaps that was his thorn in the flesh. However, it’s possible that “plucked out your own eyes” was just a figure of speech (Matthew 5:29, 18:9).

Even if it was just a figure of speech, the idea that Paul’s thorn in the flesh was some kind of physical ailment (bad eyesight or something else) is further strengthened by the fact that he himself says, “Therefore most gladly I will rather boast in my infirmities…” Furthermore, the thorn was in his “flesh,” which most commonly would be taken to mean “in my body.”

Possible answer #2: The thorn in the flesh was a demon (a fallen angel).

On the heels of using the term “a thorn in the flesh,” Paul further describes the thorn as “a messenger of Satan to buffet me.” The Greek word that is translated there as “messenger” is angelos, which is the common Greek word for “angel.” This answer is given even more credence by the fact that Paul knew the Old Testament well, and the word “thorn” is used multiple times in its pages to refer to enemies of Israel (Numbers 33:55; Joshua 23:13; Judges 2:3; Ezekiel 28:24). All of this explains why both Martin Luther and John Calvin held to this answer.

However, while the term “messenger (angelos) of Satan” seems to refer to an “angel of Satan” (which would be a demon), it should be noted that Paul also referred to the thorn as “this thing” and “it.” This creates a problem for this answer because scripture refers to Satan, the leader of all the fallen angels, as “he” not “it.” The point is that maybe Paul would have used a pronoun if he was indeed talking about a fallen angel.

Well, as you can see, each of these two possible answers has its merits. Because of this, the debate will continue until we all get to heaven. I don’t think that’s a bad thing, though. As many students of the Bible have figured out, the fact that Paul’s thorn in the flesh remains unidentified allows more people to relate to it. Putting it another way, if we knew for sure that the thorn was an eyesight problem, it would lose some of its appeal to people who have 20/20 vision. But since we don’t know for sure, each of us has the freedom to compare Paul’s thorn to whatever problem we are wrestling.

Filed under Bible Study, Comfort, Demons, perseverance, Problems, Satan, Spiritual Warfare, The Devil, trials Tagged with , , , , ,

Why Do the Wicked Prosper?

January 26, 2012 2 Comments

Why do the wicked prosper? It’s a question that goes back at least as far as the time of Job, a man who seems to have lived during the patriarchal age of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. In Job 9:24, Job says, “The earth is given into the hand of the wicked…” He follows that up in Job 12:6 by saying, “The tents of robbers prosper, and those who provoke God are secure…”

Asaph, who was a prominent singer and musician in the Israelite worship of King David’s time, also struggled with the question. In Psalm 73:3, he says, “For I was envious of the boastful, when I saw the prosperity of the wicked.” Later on, in verse 12, he says, “Behold, these are the ungodly, who are always at ease; they increase in riches.”

I’m sure that an entire book, or even a whole set of them, could be written in answer to the question, “Why do the wicked prosper?” So I won’t attempt to list every last reason in a simple blog post. Instead, I just want to offer one reason, and that one reason is this: Much of the prosperity of the wicked can be attributed to Satan, not God.

Now please don’t get all technical on me here. Yes, I know that Satan can’t do anything that God doesn’t allow. But, with that understood, I want to take you back to the story of Satan tempting Jesus in the wilderness. You can find it in Matthew 4:1-11, Mark 1:12-13, and Luke 4:1-13. Do you recall what Satan’s third and final temptation was? Matthew 4:8-9 describes it this way:

Again, the devil took Him up on an exceedingly high mountain, and showed Him all the kingdoms of the world and their glory. And he said to Him, “All these things I will give You if You will fall down and worship me.”

You see, right there it is, proof positive that Satan has plenty of “stuff” to give those who do his work. By the way, if you doubt that he holds that much stroke in this world you should also read John 14:30, 2 Corinthians 4:3-4, and Ephesians 2:1-2. Those passages teach that Satan is nothing less than the ruler of this world, and as such he has an abundant supply of money, power, possessions, and fame to dispense to suit his purposes.

So the next time you see someone who is obviously wicked and yet just as obviously prosperous, take a moment to consider that the person’s prosperity most likely comes from the hand of the devil. I’ve often used the line, “God won’t bless a mess.” But the fact is that Satan will and many times does.

Filed under Money, Prosperity, Satan, Temptation, The Devil Tagged with , , , ,

Elephants, Grass, & Spiritual Warfare

September 12, 2011 2 Comments

My mother is a member of Calvary Baptist Church in Winston Salem, North Carolina. Dr. C. Mark Corts was the pastor of that church for almost forty years. He died in 2006.

In his retirement years, just before his death, Dr. Corts wrote an excellent book entitled The Truth About Spiritual Warfare. In the first chapter of the book, he deals with the story of Job and explains that spiritual warfare isn’t about us. It is, instead, a battle between God and Satan. Corts writes:

Natives in Africa say, “When elephants fight, the grass gets trampled.” That’s what we see happening in the Book of Job – the clearest look behind the curtain in the Bible. Two titans, God and Satan, were engaged in warfare, and Job was the grass that got trampled.

This whole understanding of spiritual warfare has become very helpful to me whenever I find myself having to play the role of the grass. Nowadays when I sense that I’m in the throes of spiritual warfare, I ask myself two questions. Question 1: What is God trying to accomplish in this situation? Question 2: How is Satan working to keep it from happening?

Let me illustrate. A mother approached me a few weeks ago and asked, “Aren’t you Russell Mckinney?” When I answered, “Yes,” she proceeded to tell me how much she enjoyed my Sunday morning radio broadcast on one of our local stations. She is particularly enjoying my current series Life-Lessons From Proverbs and asked if she could get copies of the sermons for her teenage son. I said, “Sure, I’ll get you some. Give me your phone number and I’ll call you when they’re ready.” She promptly obliged. But a couple of weeks later I called the number and got no answer. I ended up leaving a message saying that the first round of cds was ready and if she would call me back we could agree to a meeting place where I could give them to her.

Several days afterward, though, I hadn’t received a callback. I thought that seemed kind of odd because she had seemed so genuinely interested in getting the sermons. My first instinct was to call her again, but then I got to thinking that I didn’t want to pester her. Perhaps she had changed her mind. I certainly didn’t want to make a nuisance of myself by forcing my own preaching onto her!

So what did I do? I took the matter to God in prayer and asked Him if I should make another run at contacting the woman. He answered by reminding me of what Dr. Corts had taught about spiritual warfare. I asked the two questions. What was God trying to accomplish in this situation? Answer: Obviously, He wanted that teenage son to hear the spiritual truths of those life-lessons from Proverbs. And how was Satan trying to keep that from happening? Answer: He was somehow keeping the lines of communication broken down between me and that mother.

Well, once I had that information, I called the woman again. I was disappointed to have to leave another message, but this time she called me back pretty quickly. We worked out a plan for how I could get the cds to her, and she’ll be getting them either today or tomorrow. She also explained why she hadn’t called me back the first time. It hadn’t been anything personal. She had meant to call but, for whatever reason, just hadn’t gotten around to it. I didn’t tell her that I truly believed that Satan had assigned some of his troops to her case and was actively working to keep her son from getting those sermons. I didn’t want to scare her.

And now we come to the application portion of this post. Do you feel like you are currently under spiritual attack? Is the aura of spiritual warfare hanging heavy around you right now? If the answer is yes, please take some time right now to ask yourself the two basic questions about the warfare. What is God trying to accomplish in the situation? And how is Satan working to keep it from happening? You’ll probably be surprised at how straightforward and simple the answers are. Then, once you have those answers, you’ll be able to move forward wisely concerning the situation. Understand that you are the grass upon which two elephants are engaged in battle and keep doing your part to help God accomplish His will.

Filed under Adversity, Angels, Choices, Demons, Doing Good, God's Will, Influence, Personal, prayer, Satan, Spiritual Warfare, The Devil, trials Tagged with , , , , , , ,

Lucifer

August 17, 2011 Leave a Comment

Two of the Bible’s best passages concerning the fall of Satan and the other rebellious angels are Isaiah 14:12-14 and Ezekiel 28:1-19. But what makes these passages a bit confusing is the fact that each one also deals with an earthly ruler. Isaiah 14:12-14 pronounces God’s coming judgment upon the king of Babylon, while Ezekiel 28:1-19 pronounces it upon the king of Tyre.

You ask, “So if the passages talk about two earthly rulers, why do we bring Satan into the context?” We do it because certain parts of the passages simply cannot refer to anyone but Satan. Consider the following examples, all taken from the New King James translation.

1. “How you are fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning!…” (Isaiah 14:12) No earthly king of Babylon ever fell from heaven.

2. “For you have said in your heart: ‘I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God…’” (Isaiah 14:13) No earthly king would think that he could ascend to heaven and take over.

3. “You were in Eden, the garden of God…” (Ezekiel 28:13) No earthly king was in the garden of Eden..

4. “You were the anointed cherub who covers…” (Ezekiel 28:14) A cherub is a type of angel.

5. “You were perfect in your ways from the day you were created, till iniquity was found in you.” (Ezekiel 28:15) Because every human being is a sinner from birth, no one is perfect from the day he is created.

In light of these examples, it’s clear that God is speaking to more than the kings of Babylon and Tyre in these passages. Yes, He’s pronouncing judgment upon them, but He’s also speaking to Satan. The implication is that Satan is the real power behind their thrones. He is so closely associated with the two kings that God can speak to him even as He is speaking to them.

Okay, with all that understood, now let me explain the name “Lucifer,” which is used in Isaiah 14:12. I need to begin by saying that the King James and the New King James are the only two English translations that use this name “Lucifer.” The Hebrew word these two translations render as “Lucifer” is helel. Bible scholars are in agreement that helel literally means “shining one,” “bright one,” or even “light-bringer.” Translators have often translated it as the so-called “morning star” or “day star,” which is actually the planet Venus appearing in the east just before sunrise.

As evidence that translators agree on this meaning for helel, consider the renderings that modern translations give to Isaiah 14:12:

1. “How you have fallen from heaven, O star of the morning, son of the dawn!…” (New American Standard Version)

2. “How you are fallen from heaven, O Day Star, son of Dawn!…” (New Revised Standard Version)

3. “Shining morning star, how you have fallen from the heavens!…” (Holman Christian Standard)

4. “How you have fallen from heaven, O light-bringer and daystar, son of the morning!…” (The Amplified Bible)

5. “How you have fallen from heaven, O morning star, son of the dawn!…” (New International Version)

Alright, now that we understand the literal meaning of helel, the question becomes, “Then why do the King James translation and the New King James translation render the word as “Lucifer”? Actually, since the New King James simply sticks with the King James rendering, the question is really, “Why did the King James translators go with the name “Lucifer”?

The answer to that is found in the fact that before the Bible was ever translated into any kind of English, it was translated into Latin. The Latin translation was called the Vulgate. And what is the Latin word for “morning star”? It is “lucifer.” You see, when the King James translators came to Isaiah 14:12, they decided to just carry the name “lucifer” over from the existing Latin translation. In other words, “Lucifer” is not an English word. It is, instead, a Latin word that was incorporated into an English translation.

It’s sad that modern translators have been criticized by some for simply doing their job. When they came to helel in Isaiah 14:12, they actually translated it rather than go with some long-standing Latin word that would need translating itself because so few people know Latin. In doing so, the translators left themselves open to the charge of attempting to rob the Bible of one of its greatest teachings on the devil. Even worse than that, since Jesus calls Himself “the Bright Morning Star” in Revelation 22:16, they’ve been accused of associating Jesus with Satan or even promoting the lordship of Satan.

On this whole subject, Merrill Unger, the highly respected Bible scholar and commentator, has pointed out that Isaiah 14:12 isn’t the only Old Testament passage where the morning star and angels are linked together. The other passage is Job 38:7, which speaks of the time when “the morning stars” sang together and all the “sons of God” shouted for joy. (Job 1:6 and 2:1 plainly show that the term “sons of God” refers to angels in the book of Job.) So, you see, it really isn’t so strange that the original Hebrew of Isaiah 14:12 would describe Satan as the “morning star.” And as for Jesus using the title for Himself, that’s His emphatic way of saying that He is the true “morning star,” one far brighter and far greater than Satan.

Filed under Angels, Bible Study, Demons, King James only, Satan, Scripture, The Bible, The Devil Tagged with , , , , , , , , ,

How Many Angels Are There?

August 16, 2011 Leave a Comment

In Hebrews 12:22, the New Testament’s original Greek uses the word murias to describe the number of angels that God created. It is from this word that we get our word “myriads.”

It isn’t hard for translators to understand the basic meaning of murias, but they do struggle somewhat with how best to put it into English. Take the translators of the classic King James for instance. In Hebrews 12:22, they go with “innumerable” to translate it, but in Revelation 5:11-12 they render it “ten thousand times ten thousand.” In Acts 19:19, they translate it as “fifty thousand,” but in Luke 12:1 they again use “innumerable.” In Acts 21:20, it’s “thousands,” while in Jude 14 it’s “ten thousands.”

The challenge of precisely translating murias has led some translators to basically jam the Greek word straight into the English by rendering it “myriads.” This could be called a transliteration rather than a translation. For example, in the New American Standard Version, Hebrews 12:22 reads “myriads of angels” and Revelation 5:11 reads “myriads of myriads.”

While I understand why murias might be translated as “innumerable,” we really shouldn’t think that God created an infinite, limitless, never-ending number of angels. The fact is, there is a certain number of them. No doubt it is an exceedingly high number, but it is a countable number, at least countable by God.

How do we know this? We know it because Revelation 12:4 says that when Satan fell from heaven “His tail drew a third of the stars of heaven and threw them to the earth.” (N.K.J.V.) Obviously, Satan doesn’t have a literal tail, and the angels that followed him in his rebellion against God aren’t literal stars, but the point is made: A third of the angels that God created can now be classified as “fallen” with the angel Satan. And to have a third of something, that something must have a set number, right? There simply is no such thing as one-third of innumerable.

So, now that we know all this, how do we answer the question, “How many angels are there?” Well, it’s clearly impossible for us to calculate an exact number, but we can feel very safe in saying that there are tens of thousands. I wouldn’t argue with anyone who believes there are hundreds of thousands. I wouldn’t even rule out that there are millions, perhaps even billions. What I do know is that however many there are, the more the better because the majority (two-thirds) of them still do God’s bidding.

Filed under Angels, Bible Study, Demons, Satan, Spiritual Warfare, The Devil Tagged with , , , , , , , , ,

A Big, Black Door

August 11, 2011 3 Comments

A spy was captured by the Persian army and sentenced to death. However, the Persian general who issued the death sentence had an unusual procedure for executions. The condemned were given the choice of being slain by the sword or walking through what was described as a “big, black door.”

The spy thought about the choice and, in the end, chose death by the sword. After the execution, a curious bystander asked the general what lay behind the “big, black door.” The general answered, “Freedom, but they always prefer the known to the unknown. People are afraid of that which is undefined and less certain. We gave him a choice. Behind the door is freedom, but few men are brave enough to take it.”

Christian, could it be that God has recently placed some “big, black door” in front of you? And could it be that your fear of the unknown is keeping you from having the faith to walk through that door? Rest assured that God doesn’t operate like that Persian general. He isn’t playing games with you, and He’s not seeking your demise. What He’s trying to do is build your faith in Him. He wants you out of your comfort zone. He wants you to take a test you haven’t memorized from years of taking. He wants you less confident in yourself and more eager to lean on Him.

What am I saying? I’m saying that God-ordained “big, black doors” are portals to a closer walk with Him and a more exciting and invigorating life. But you’ve got to have the faith and courage to step through them. Satan wants you to spend your life fearful, unchallenged, underdeveloped, and wrongly satisfied with the status quo. Don’t let him keep you from experiencing all that God wants you to experience and becoming all that He wants you to become.

Peace I leave with you, My peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid. (John 14:27)

For you did not receive the spirit of bondage again to fear, but you received the Spirit of adoption by whom we cry out, “Abba, Father.” (Romans 8:15)

For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind. (2 Timothy 1:7)

There is no fear in love; but perfect love casts out fear, because fear involves torment. But he who fears has not been made perfect in love. (1 John 4:18)

Filed under Choices, Courage, faith, fear, God's Will, Satan, The Devil, Trusting In God, Worry Tagged with , , , , , , , , ,

Walking In Truth

July 29, 2011 Leave a Comment

In 3 John verse 3, the apostle John says of his spiritual children:

I have no greater joy than to hear that my children walk in truth.

A man was on trial for murder. All the circumstantial evidence strongly indicated his guilt, but the police hadn’t been able to find the corpse. That left some doubt as to whether the jury would convict him. But the man’s lawyer believed the jury was leaning towards doing just that. So he resorted to a clever trick.

In the lawyer’s closing argument, he said, “Ladies and gentlemen of the jury, I have a surprise for you all. Within one minute, the person presumed dead in this case will walk into this courtroom.” Then he looked down at his watch as if counting the seconds. Thirty seconds later he turned and started staring at the courtroom door. The jurors, somewhat stunned, all fixed their eyes on the door as well. But after the allotted time had passed, it became obvious that no one was walking through that door.

Finally the lawyer broke the silence by saying, “Actually, I made up the previous statement. But since each of you looked at the door with anticipation, I submit that you all have reasonable doubt in this case as to whether or not my client really killed anybody. And because of that I insist that you return a verdict of ‘not guilty.’” The jury then retired to deliberate.

But they came back in just a few minutes later and pronounced a verdict of “guilty.” The defense lawyer was outraged. Risking the ire of the judge, he shouted at them, “How could you do this? You must have had some doubt. I saw all of you stare at that door.” To that the jury foreman replied, “Yes, we did look. But your client didn’t.”

As clever as lawyers can be, not one of them is in Satan’s league when it comes to twisting and distorting the truth. Revelation 12:9 says that he “deceives the whole world.” Jesus said of him, “There is no truth in him” (John 8:44). Rest assured that if Satan was able to talk Eve out of the truth, he is able to deceive us too. We are no match for him. That is why we must make it a matter of regular prayer to ask the Lord to give us discernment and wisdom in regards to what is true and what isn’t.

If you haven’t done so today, take a moment right now and ask the Lord for such discernment and wisdom. Tell Him that you don’t want to believe anything that is a lie. Tell Him that you don’t want to be duped by Satan. Tell Him that you want to know the truth so that you can bring your life in line with it. After all, who wants to walk in a lie?

Filed under Choices, Counsel, Demons, God's Will, Satan, seeking advice, Spiritual Warfare, Temptation, The Devil, Truth Tagged with , , , , ,

Should We Pray Silently To Keep Satan From Hearing?

March 30, 2011 Leave a Comment

A fellow preacher and I once had an interesting conversation concerning people praying aloud and Satan being able to listen in on those prayers. The question we kicked around was: Is it smarter to pray silently so that Satan and his fellow fallen angels (demons) won’t be able to hear our requests and, thus, thwart them?

Upon first impression, the answer seems to be that, yes, we should pray silently. I mean, after all, Satan and the other fallen angels can hear, can’t they? And the sole purpose of their existence is to mess up what God is trying to do, right? So why give them advance notice of what we are asking God for in prayer? Isn’t that kind of like an army publicly announcing it’s battle plans to an enemy army?

But to find our answer my preacher friend and I turned to the Bible, and we quickly realized that we just couldn’t make a scriptural case for always praying silently. The simple truth is that the Bible gives us various instances of people praying aloud. Solomon prayed aloud in his great prayer of dedication for the Jewish temple (2 Chronicles 6:12-42). Eliajh’s prayer on Mount Carmel seems to have been aloud (1 Kings 18:36-39). Those believers who met in that upper room following Christ’s ascension prayed aloud (Acts 1:24-25). So did Paul and Silas when they were in prison (Acts 16:25). Paul also prayed aloud when he met with the elders of Ephesus (Acts 20:36).

Now, it is certainly true that Jesus instructed His followers to go into a room and shut the door when they prayed (Matthew 6:5-6). However, His purpose in saying that was to get them to avoid the hypocritical way of public praying “for show” that was so common among the Pharisees. Basically, what He said was, “Hide yourself,” not “Shush yourself.” Actually, you can pray aloud even if you are in your room with the door closed.

So, in the end, we should understand that there is no Bible prohibition against praying aloud. Yes, Satan or some other fallen angel might be listening in, but that doesn’t mean they have the power to either prevent or delay God from granting a request. So, if you like to talk out loud when you pray, go for it. After all, what you say in prayer is much more important than how you say it.

Filed under Demons, fear, God's Omnipotence, prayer, Prayer Requests, Satan, Spiritual Warfare, The Devil, Trusting In God Tagged with , , , , , , , , ,

One Is Enough

January 29, 2011 Leave a Comment

When a person is born, he or she comes wired with certain talents, skills, and natural abilities. Obviously, these must be recognized and honed as the individual grows, but the point is that these things are inside the person even in infancy.

Well, the New Testament teaches that when a person believes in Christ as Savior and is thus “born again” (John 3:1-21) God the Holy Spirit comes to dwell inside that person’s body (Romans 8:9-11). And among other things He does, the indwelling Holy Spirit imparts to the person at least one “spiritual gift” (Romans 12:3-8; 1 Corinthians 12:1-31; Ephesians 4:7-11).

What is a spiritual gift? It is a talent, skill, or ability that the person did not have before becoming a Christian. As with natural talents, skills, and abilities, it might take the new Christian (who is called a babe in Christ: 1 Corinthians 3:1; 1 Peter 2:2) a while to identify the gift and hone it, but the gift is present from the moment of salvation. Some Christians are given more than one spiritual gift, but every Christian is given at least one (1 Corinthians 12:7). And trust me when I say that one is plenty by which to serve Christ in great and mighty ways.     

A young man who lost his left arm in an automobile accident wanted to learn judo. His family, delighted that he wasn’t letting his disability keep him down, hired an old Japanese master to teach him judo’s throws. After three months had passed, the master had taught the young man only one throw, but that throw had been mastered. Surprisingly, the master felt that it was time for the young man to enter his first competition. Even more suprisingly, the young man actually won the event, defeating the defending champion in the finals.

After the finals, the young man asked the master the question that had been on his mind: “Why did you teach me only one throw?” The master replied, “There are two reasons. First, by mastering that one throw you have mastered one of the most difficult throws in all of judo. Second, the only known defense for that throw is for your opponent to grab your left arm.”

You see, that young man knew only one throw, but one was enough. Likewise, Christian, God the Holy Spirit may have imparted to you only one spiritual gift, but that one is enough. So use it, use it, use it, over and over again in service to Christ. And here’s the good news: Satan won’t have a defense for it.

Filed under Adversity, Attitude, Doing Good, God's Provision, salvation, Satan, spiritual gifts, The Devil, The Holy Spirit Tagged with , , , , ,

Is There Life On Other Planets?

August 3, 2009 Leave a Comment

Each Sunday morning at Disciples Road Church I take about five minutes and answer any Bible question someone has. My folks really enjoy this part of our service, and they ask some good questions. Yesterday the question was, “Does the Bible say anything about life on other planets?” (By the way, the person who asked it was very careful to say, “We’re talking about E.T. phone home here, not just a living organism.”)  

The short answer to the question is, no, the Bible doesn’t say anything about life on other planets. Some people have tried to make the case that the four living creatures of Ezekiel chapter 1 are aliens. Clearly, however, they are angels. Other people read the stories of how Enoch (Genesis 5:21-24) and Elijah (2 Kings 2:1-11) were taken up to heaven and say, “Maybe they were carried away by spaceships.” No way. Each story makes a point of saying that it was God who did the taking. A handful of others run wild with the fact that Jesus said, “And other sheep I have which are not of this fold” (John 10:16). But there’s absoutely no doubt that the “other sheep” were the Gentiles, not aliens on other planets.

Rather than hinting that there is life on other planets, the Bible lays out a pretty clear case that there isn’t. Let me give you a few thoughts to consider on this issue. Mull these over in your mind and just let the Bible say what it says.

First, Genesis 1:1 says: “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.” That word “heavens” covers all the other planets out there in space. This means, then, that all those other planets were created on the same day (day 1 of the creation week) as the earth. So much for aliens being more advanced than us because their planets have been around so much longer than our’s.

Second, Romans 8:22 says: “For we know that the whole creation groans and labors with birth pangs together until now.” This verse tells us that all of creation, not just the earth but also the other planets, was affected by Adam’s sin. Sin now had to be accounted for in God’s perfect creation. When God said to Adam, “Cursed is the ground for your sake” (Genesis 3:17), evidently that curse extended to all creation. Therefore, it seems unlikely that there are any pristine planets out there that are even more life-sustaining than the earth. Along these same lines, a friend of mine once pointed out to me that in view of all creation being fallen, it wouldn’t have been fair for God to punish other intelligent life simply because Adam sinned.      

Third, Jesus became a human and died in a human body. He arose from the dead in a resurrected, glorified human body. Even after that resurrection, He bore the marks of the death upon that body (John 20:24-29). Thus, Jesus is the eternal “God-man.” He is not the eternal “God-martian” or whatever. He has chosen to eternally align Himself with mankind by eternally existing in a glorified human body.

Fourth, the church, which consists of humans, is Christ’s eternal bride (Ephesians 5:22-32). If He has another bride, one that comes from some other planet, that makes Him a bigamist and an adulterer (Matthew 19:1-6). In light of this, if there are alien civilizations, are they without sin and without need of Christ’s redemption? To believe they are sinless is to believe that God gave them a better shot at remaining sinless than He gave Adam and Eve. Come on, do we really think that God played it that way?

You say, “But Russell, you just don’t know all the evidence for life on other planets.” Oh, yes, I do. You aren’t talking to a sci-fi novice here! I go all the way back to Leonard Nimoy’s “In Search Of” back in the 1970s. I know all about: Roswell, area 51, flying saucers, alien abductions, men in black, USOs (unidentified submerged objects), time travel, the loss of time, the Bermuda triangle, crop circles, and livestock mutilations. I’ve seen Star Trek, The Outer Limits, The Twilight Zone, Close Encounters of the Third Kind, The X Files, Stargate, etc. Yes, preachers are allowed to watch that kind of stuff.

But my problem is simple: I can’t honestly make all the talk about aliens match up with the Bible. I’ve read the Book, and aliens just aren’t in there. It disappoints a lot of people that they aren’t, but I can’t help that.

What I try to do is come up with reasonable explanations for all the sci-fi stories. For example, it’s absurd to think that every last one of the thousands of people who claim to have seen alien spaceships is lying. Many of them really did see something. But what did they see? While I don’t claim to have all the answers, I feel extremely confident in saying that we don’t know half of what our government’s military complex has in the works. I’m sure that secret, government aircraft can explain some of the “spaceships.”

As for the sightings of actual aliens, again I don’t claim to have all the answers. But I don’t discount the activity of demons (fallen angels). Ephesians 6:12 says: “For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places.” Likewise, Ephesians 2:2 calls Satan “the prince of the power of the air.” Who knows what appearances fallen angels can take? Revelation 12:9 says that Satan “deceives the whole world.” Could demons appear as aliens and deceive people into thinking those demons come from another planet? I’m not saying they have, but I’m sure saying they could.

But what about all the stories from ancient cultures of how the gods came down from the sky and advanced their cultures? Every time I hear one of those stories my mind immediately races to Genesis 6:1-4. There we find the record of how a group of fallen angels (called “the sons of God”, see Job 1:6 and Job 2:1) once interacted with mankind, even to the point of taking wives for themselves and producing human offspring through them.

I’ll guarantee you those fallen angels didn’t show up on earth one day and say, “Hi, we are demons who have been banished from our place in heaven. We’re here to perpetrate all kinds of wickedness and evil upon you. Let’s get started.” No, those demons would have been more than happy to let those people believe the demons were either gods who came down from the sky or aliens who came from far across the galaxy.

At the end of the day, I guess I would sum up my feelings by saying that if irrefutable evidence of life on other planets was ever presented (an alien spaceship landing on the White House lawn, etc.) I would revise my thinking and say, “Okay, aliens do exist and God, for whatever reason, just didn’t want them mentioned in the Bible.” But I don’t think that’s going to happen. If it does, I promise that I’ll write a follow-up blog. If I were you, though, I wouldn’t be racing to the computer every morning to look for it. That’s a little too sci-fi for even me.

Filed under Demons, Life On Other Planets, Scripture, The Bible, The Devil Tagged with , , ,

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