QUESTION 1: “In your recent article about the charismatic movement, “Parallel Psychic Power-Games in the World & in the Church”, you gave a link to a video showing Kenneth Copeland and Rodney Howard-Browne speaking in tongues, which was rather extreme and quite old. Is that really representative of today’s charismatic movement?”

Yes, it is extremely relevant because Kenneth Hagin, Kenneth Copeland and Rodney Howard-Browne (who was catapulted to fame by Copeland) are the Big Daddies of the present-day manifestation of the movement. Rodney Howard-Browne went from being a tubby “bartender of the Spirit” (as he was known in the 1990s) to winding up as one of Donald Trump’s ‘spiritual advisors’ when he was President of the USA (as you can see briefly in my original article’s link to that episode). People think it is only the equally reprehensible Paula White who is Trump’s sole ‘spiritual advisor’. Not so. He has a number of them through his ‘Evangelical Executive Advisory Board’. Rodney Howard-Browne was among a posse of so-called “evangelical leaders” (a phrase which means absolutely nothing anymore) who performed a “laying on of hands” ceremony on Trump in the Oval office of the White House not very long ago (see the two accompanying photos below, in which he looks much slimmer). Both Rodney Howard-Browne (https://www.ncronline.org/news/key-evangelical-players-trumps-advisory-board ) and Kenneth Copeland (and his wife) are actually on Trump’s ‘Evangelical Executive Advisory Board’. https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/documents/press-release-trump-campaign-announces-evangelical-executive-advisory-board . The kind of antics to which I referred in my article and which you saw in the videos are happening to a greater or lesser degree in multiple churches all over the world — all the more so when they hold special occasions or manage to generate a so-called “revival”, which they love to do in order to crank things up and keep the hypnotic momentum going.

It is not at all surprising to find Trump in cahoots with the likes of Rodney Howard-Browne, Kenneth Copeland and other charismatics. Trump was brought up in ‘New Thought’ minister Norman Vincent Peale’s church in New York. The ‘New Thought Movement’ was not only the direct inspiration for much of the New Age antics we have today but also inspired so-called ‘Prosperity Theology’ in the churches. Trump’s primary ‘spiritual advisor’, Paula White, is a raving charismatic and so-called “prosperity” teacher whose antics have been recorded for all to see. Like in this video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I4daeEacIVI&t=121s . There you will see her praying for Trump and summoning angels from Africa to get involved. She speaks in the typical gibberish unbiblical “tongues” at 1:50 in the video.

Speaking of Paula White, I am going to say it right here (and I will say it again, in greater detail, when dealing with another question below): Women should not be teaching in the churches. Sharing the truth about the Christ, yes (e.g. Acts, chapter 18, verses 24-26; Letter to the Philippians, chapter 4, verse 3;). Teaching other women and children, certainly (Letter to Titus, chapter 2, verses 3-5). But they should not be engaged in a public Bible teaching ministry. This is such basic stuff that it is insane that I should have to say it. Women who are genuine disciples of Christ accept this without question, knowing that there is still much for them to do by way of service to the Lord. I will have much more to say about all this below in reply to another question.

Anyway, I simply wanted to say that the mindset behind what you saw in that video of Copeland and Rodney Howard-Browne is not at all an extreme example of Charismatic tomfoolery and is indicative of, and foundational to, the excesses that we witness today, especially in relation to the gibberish (pagan) version of “tongues”. I was teaching about all this kind of stuff nearly thirty years ago when I was an extremely naïve young pastor. (Oh boy! Was I naïve!). I had only been out of theological college a couple of years, with a growing young family, and I found myself thrown in at the deep end making three teaching videos in 1994, 1995 & 1996 about the so-called “Toronto Blessing” (Charismatic ‘revival’ nonsense which started in 1994), its real origins and what it truly represented (with copious examples of the buffoonery). They went viral (by word of mouth as there was hardly any internet then!). Incredibly, those videos are still online and if you are interested, here are the links:

1) “The Toronto Blessing: A Different Gospel” (1994) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eYmSoAWgQ44 .

2) “A Plague in the Land” (1995)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=83fg4eBLUfM .

3) “No Other Foundation: The Toronto Blessing & the Dismantling of Evangelicalism” (1996)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yb4MsRsODoc .

I am seeing the fruits of all that nonsense come full-circle in the churches today. Mucha agua (tanta agua!) under the bridge for me since those days. The outburst of demonic anger towards me in the wake of those teaching videos and as a result of the speaking tours which I did and the articles and book that I wrote in the ensuing years took that naïve pastor by surprise, coming completely out of left-field, and I later dropped out of sight. It was some years before I returned to teaching Bible once more. (Something I now know… once a pastor, always a pastor). I am trying to make up in overdrive for that necessary hiatus with what I am doing now and have been doing so since 2017. 😊 (More about all this below under another question).

QUESTION 2: “In your article “Don’t Shrink Back”, you said that hell is symbolic. So I reported you to a group on Facebook where you had posted the link and told people not to go to your website. How could you be so antibiblical?”

How could you be so wilfully misrepresentative of what I write? I saw that you played at self-styled policewoman, like many other misinformed people on the internet who seem unable to read properly what is in front of them. I also wrote a reply and told you that you had lied and that you are, in effect, bearing false witness to your neighbour. I explained in what ways you had completely misrepresented me; yet you did not take down your false statement. This is typical of so many in the ‘Christian’ scene, who seem unable to think things through in such a way that 2 + 2 = 4.

I never said that hell itself is merely symbolic. I said that the words used in the Bible to describe hell, such as “fire” and “brimstone” are symbols for hell rather than referring to actual physical fire and actual physical sulphur. They are symbols of the searing judgement of God in what Scripture calls “the second death”, what people have come to call “hell”. (Personally, I prefer “second death” as it is much more realistically descriptive, needing no symbol).

Honestly, anyone who truly understands the Bible knows very well that fire and brimstone are symbols of hell rather than being descriptive of what actually befalls those who die in their sin and rebellion against God. Most of the problems concerning Scripture have to do with the failure to attribute symbolism to where it belongs, or the equally serious failure to take literally what should be taken literally. So before spouting off in public about things you do not properly understand, and articles you have not properly read, you really need to find a good man who can lead you deeper into all truth and study the Bible more and develop better reading skills. I do not mean plugging into YouTube videos of some equally ignorant person who claims to be ‘Christian’. I mean asking God to reveal truth to you and also finding Bible teachers who prefer truth to conspiracy theory extremism and love for others rather than bumping up views on their channel. Too many people calling themselves ‘Christians’ lie and slander without any conscience and think they are doing the Lord a favour! Neo-Pharisaism.

QUESTION 3: “When I read your articles, they seem to show so much madness in the churches. Why does Jesus allow this to happen? When Jesus said that we must go into all the world making disciples of all nations, doesn’t that mean that the church will become victorious in the world rather than the laughing stock it seems to be in so many ways? Why does false teaching seem to be more prevalent than true? It doesn’t make any sense to me”.

Nowhere did Jesus say that the true church will become victorious in the world in the sense of ‘Christianising’ the world in majority numbers or taking over the world as a body. On the contrary, in the world, disciples of Christ will have tribulation (Gospel of John, chapter 16, verse 33). They will be under continual attack from demons and untransformed humans (Book of Revelation, chapter 12, verse 17; First Letter to Peter, chapter 5, verse 8), and they will ultimately be overcome by the faithless world (Book of Daniel, chapter 7, verse 21; Gospel of Matthew, chapter 24, verse 9; Book of Revelation, chapter 11, verse 7; chapter 13, verse 7; Letter to the Romans, chapter 8, verse 36).

The uncomfortable truth, in Jesus’ own words, is that “many are called” by the spread of the Gospel, “however, few are chosen” (Gospel of Matthew, chapter 22, verse 14). The teaching on Divine election is right there — a teaching which, in a supreme irony, most of those calling themselves ‘Christian’ utterly reject. They say that if we believe in Divine election, we will get sloppy with proclaiming the Gospel. That is absolute nonsense. Our role is to make disciples for Christ out of all the nations — to find those who the Father has given to Christ (Gospel of John, chapter 6, verses 37-39; chapter 10, verses 27-30). Therefore, we put out the call everywhere, unfettered and without restraint. It is not for us to know who are “the chosen”, or to be offended by that; but we know that all are called. It is not our place to try and work out who are “the vessels of His wrath, prepared for destruction” (Letter to the Romans, chapter 9, verse 22). We leave all that to the Creator and Redeemer of our souls. Added to that, there are many in the visible church who appear like disciples of Christ but who in reality are not, and they will only be properly exposed when the time for judgement comes (Gospel of Matthew, chapter 13, verses 22-30, 36-43). So we cannot see all the way into hearts and must proclaim the truth indiscriminately, even if it is at great risk to ourselves.

Many have claimed that the world must be and will be increasingly ‘Christianised’, ready for Christ’s return, at which He will allegedly find the world to be a Christian one in which He can set up a 1000-year reign on this earth as it is presently constituted. What a load of old codswallop that is, including the 1000-year reign (which I deal with in another question below)! So-called ‘Christian Dominionists’, ‘Christian Reconstructionists’, or ‘World Revivalists’ — they are all living out a fleshly fantasy in which “my team not only wins but is SEEN to win”. Let me tell you this: Our team wins alright, but it is not in the superficial worldly visible sense of a ‘Christianised’ world but in the sense that, despite all appearances, Christ has spiritually overcome Satan and his satanic world-system (Gospel of John, chapter 16, verse 33), so that countless others can follow Him, but this does not get visibly ratified in full until His return in judgement to create the new heaven and new earth.

In the meantime, disciples have to exercise faith, which is “the assurance of what we hope for and the certainty of what we do not see” (Letter to the Hebrews, chapter 11, verse 1). This is why we must “fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen, since what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal” (Second Letter to the Corinthians, chapter 4, verse 18). The disciple of Christ’s great text is this: “We walk by faith, not by sight” (Second Letter to the Corinthians, chapter 5, verse 7). Dominionists, Reconstructionists and World Revivalists walk by sight. They think that Christ can only be victorious if it is proven to be visibly so in this world. But the reality is that the world hates Christ and His disciples too (Gospel of John, chapter 15, verses 18-19); and that hatred will proliferate until the end of this age when it will be at its climax and all previous Divine restraint on it will be loosed.

Far from this world being ‘Christianised’, the fact is that it will undergo a great apostasy (Second Letter to the Thessalonians, chapter 2, verse 3; Gospel of Matthew, chapter 24, verses 9-14, 37), which I believe is already well under way, and it will be a hotbed of false christs and false prophets (Gospel of Matthew, chapter 24, verses 21-25). A big problem is that most people confuse the body of Christ and the visible Church. It is a fact that the visible church (which is the false worldly church) will grow, join forces ecumenically, and will link up with “other faiths” to create a kind of ‘superchurch’ alongside of the eventual inauguration of a world government; and they will all indulge in a fake global unity preparing the way for the Antichrist. It is this false ‘spiritual’ unity to which the world is building up, not a world in which the vast majority become disciples of Christ. Let’s face up to the difficult and threatening truth, which (in Jesus’ own words), is this: “Narrow is the gate and afflicted is the way which leads to life, and few are those finding it” (Gospel of Matthew, chapter 7, verse 14).

The church may well be a laughingstock in this world. But that is largely because of the antics practised by the visible (false) church — though it is also true to say that the world will ridicule the spiritual claims of Christ too. That is its destiny. We should not behave in a fleshly manner by feeling personally offended because the world is “disrespecting” Christ and His church, as if we are to feel like a football fan whose club has been insulted by a rival. Christ’s teachings do not have to be accepted as true by most or even all people in the world in order to demonstrate their veracity. That is worldly thinking. Faith operates despite all appearances not because of them.

Thus, the body of Christ grows in just the way that God wants it to, despite the craziness, falsehoods and outright evil in the church and across the wider world. It grows at the rate which God intends. He cannot be thwarted, impeded, obstructed, or frustrated. Neither does He need to play a human ‘numbers game’ in order to feel satisfaction. The fact is that “The Lord knows those who are His” (Second Letter to Timothy, chapter 2, verse 19) and He will have them without fail. All that is needed is for faithful disciples of Christ to do their bit sending out the call for them. The fact that alongside of that call the world degenerates into outright iniquity, apostasy and rabid persecution of the saints does not negate the spiritual victory of Christ or the triumph of the true Ekklesia. Always remember that Christ’s victory does not get wholly ratified this side of His return.

QUESTION 4: “How can one know that one is saved or born again? Although I have believed for some time, I am very concerned that I might not be”.

Dear friend, you have answered your question in your own words. For if you were not saved or born again you would not really be concerned that you were not. And if you are not and you really want to be, then all you have to do is to commit yourself with every fibre of your being to the One to whom you belong, Jesus the Christ, vowing to turn your life around, with sorrow for the past, and then live as the new creation which you are. So you do not really have a dilemma. The fact that you are concerned you might not be saved implies that you are. And if you still think you might not be, then recommit yourself with every fibre of your being.

Occasional doubt is understandable. We are frail creatures still inhabiting a fallen world, with fallen bodies. We walk by faith rather than by sight and that can sometimes be supremely challenging. But know that if you really want to be saved then you can be and will be. There will be no one desiring to be bonded with Christ who will not be, and no one excluded from heaven who would rather be there. Please feel free to contact me anytime on diakrisis-project@outlook.com if you want to discuss things further.

QUESTION 5: “I remember around 20 years ago hearing from someone (who I have since turned away from) that you were accused of being an ecumenicist and closet supporter of some evangelical covenant and even that you are preparing the way for the Antichrist. I never understood why someone would say that about you. Why would they?”

Really, I have to laugh at such ludicrous attempts to discredit sincere ministries. Such slander abounds these days in the corrupt ‘Christian’ scene. You have to realise that we are at a very strange time in history when the church overflows with false teachers, false prophets, liars, deceivers and impostors. Between 20 and 25 years ago, I came under massive attack due to uncompromising stands that I had taken concerning trends in the churches in the previous years to that, when I was a naïve pastor. Part of those uncompromising stands involved the making of the videos I listed in an earlier question above. But I also opposed the war on Iraq in 2003, which turned many right-wing all-Amerikan US ‘Christian’ types against me. So not only liberals but also fundamentalists can behave like this when triggered to do so. Thus, it came at me from all sides. The liberals thought I was being narrowminded. The moderates wanted to sit on the fence about everything. The charismatics thought I was “quenching the Spirit”. The big-deal evangelical pastors (supposedly ‘leaders’) saw me as a “Johnny-come-lately”, a lowly new pastor who was stealing their thunder and that I should be leaving it to them to respond (which mostly involved sitting on the fence “because it might be a work of the Spirit”).

The ludicrous accusations to which you are referring I saw as being part of that demonic backlash, in which an extremist, rigidly KJV-only, slag-everything-off, so-called “ministry” tries to slur another with what can only be professional jealousy, of which there is much in the ‘Christian’ scene. I never bother defending myself against that kind of lying onslaught. I leave it to God to deal with. These liars forget that the people they lie about have friends and colleagues who actually know the real truth about those they accuse and who know that the accusations are baseless. Anyone who knew me personally ‘in real life’ would know that such accusations were false. But I do know that when others have confronted such liars with incontrovertible evidence of the truth, they do not retract their lies. This is because the lies are part of a wicked strategic manoeuvre based on either demonic prompting or the psychological issues of the slanderers, which is why it is pointless trying to defend oneself, for one is dealing with a kind of unhinged mindset of fanaticism. Many in the ‘Christian’ scene are psychologically disturbed folks who have been attracted to a religious place for security and/or control and they become easily triggered by others by whom they feel threatened, for whatever reason. There is also much professional jealousy, by which some who have set themselves up with a ‘ministry’ do not like any rivals. It is all such a yawn! This is partly why I disappeared from the ‘Christian’ scene for some years (roughly 2010-2017) and I am now mainly a recluse in an obscure living situation. It helps with the birds’ eye view. 😉

A friend contacted me recently to say that someone who I thought was a friend (though I had only ever met him twice at meetings in the distant past) had written to her to tell her to beware of me as (so he claimed) I hold gnostic views. Anyone who knows me and who has read my writings would fall apart laughing at that absurd accusation. But this is what I have to deal with. I know (having been reliably informed by a ‘double agent’) that a number of people (uptight ‘professional Christian’ types) go to my website solely to see what kind of unorthodox teaching (in their narrow view) I am dredging up in my articles, so they can gossip and falsely accuse. Seriously! Occasionally, I come across them in a group or on a forum where they are spouting their lies and then I will have some fun by suddenly appearing in their midst and saying “Boo!”. 🤣 This life is such an interesting theatre and there is an infinite number of actors who wear masks and who feign (publicly) or fawn to their gullible followers. I watch it all with baffled bemusement. When your business is unadulterated truth and the discovery or exposing of it, you will gain a multitude of enemies. And I mean a multitude.

Some of those enemies are women who have teaching ‘ministries’ (as was the case with the false accusations which you saw twenty years ago). As I said in an earlier question above (and this is what rattles them): Women should not be teaching in the churches. Spreading the truth about Christ, yes. Teaching other women and children, absolutely. But they should not be engaged in a public Bible teaching ministry, especially where men are in the audience. This is such basic stuff that it is insane that I should have to say it and shows just how far the churches have gone in turning away from truth and instead have turned to the teachings of demons. Paul said it clearly to Timothy the young pastor:

“Let a woman learn in quietness, in all submissiveness. I do not permit a woman to teach, nor to exercise authority over a man, but to be in quietness. For Adam was formed first, and then Eve. And it was not Adam who was deceived, but the woman who was deceived and fell into transgression”.

First Letter to Timothy, chapter 2, verses 11-14

Boom! 🤯 Those apostolic words of authority fall on the deaf ears of today’s arrogant women, and especially on those of today’s uppity ‘Christian’ women! Many women — especially when they are not in a healthy relationship with a true man — are unstable and act like loose cannons and thereby become fodder for the demonic realm, which is one of the reasons they have historically been so attracted to witchcraft and have multiple New Age platforms today alleging channelled connections with spirits. That is the wayward, flaky ‘spirit of Eve’ which the apostle mentioned in the text above. This is why women need to be reined in — though I recognise that those words of mine will cause absolute horror in today’s unruly and arrogant women! However, I know many women of faith who will be nodding furiously at these words without a trace of resentment or false accusations of misogyny. Such women I love with all my heart, for they stand against a tide of female hubris of tsunamic proportions.

Paula White (the ‘pastor’ and Trump’s ‘spiritual advisor’ who I mentioned in a question above) is a glaring example of what happens when a woman deliberately flouts the above authoritative words of the apostle Paul. And many others too. I remember seeing a woman seething with jealous rage in the congregation when her husband was being ordained as a Pastor. Afterwards, at the reception, she angrily regaled him in public with the words, “That should have been me up there!” That kind of Jezebel spirit is now endemic in churches today.

Many in the Christian scene (if they have not been on the receiving end of it) are very naïve about how people who call themselves “Christians” can actually be far ruder, mendacious, nasty, backbiting, dissembling, duplicitous, plotting, underhand, and hypocritical than many of their non-Christian counterparts. And I’m not just talking about liberal types. Having come from a somewhat chaotic and tarnished theosophical, new agey, Eastern mystical, existentialist philosophy background, I expected becoming a disciple of Christ in the mid-1980s to be a clean slate of beauty and loveliness and that I would be happily ensconced in a loving community — the very suburbs of heaven. I simply was not prepared for the madness I experienced at the hands of a mass of narrowminded and vituperative characters who are so capable of betrayal and lies, and so lacking in self-awareness that they could commit all that without the trace of a conscience.

I remember it being spread about among the ‘Reformed’ brigade of the ‘Christian’ scene that I was surely apostate because I had called myself “a troubadour” in an article. This is a word which originally comes from an Occitan word meaning “to compose, to discuss, to invent”. That is the etymology (a discipline which I love). But so many calling themselves “Christian” have an anti-intellectual bent and often make pronouncements for which they are not academically, knowledgeably or intellectually qualified. I used the word to refer to myself when composing or playing songs or writing/reciting poetry. But even that was seen as evidence of a lack of faith. On a number of occasions, I have been reprimanded by ‘Christian’ types for listening to classical music, “because it was composed by great sinners”. The repressive mindset and fearful, superstitious dispositions of so many in the Christian scene, who seem to have no conception of the freedom we have in Christ, is a sad thing to behold.

On occasions when I was a pastor, certain people wanted me to stop writing my works for Diakrisis, and on one conflagrative occasion some in a congregation in the late 1990s conspired to get me to retract an article about spiritual abuse which was too challenging for them. I later came to understand why; for they were guilty of the very spiritual abuse with which the article dealt! Naturally, I did not back down; and this brought about a sea-change in my life because I got myself and my family out of that whole nutty scene and moved to Europe and then many more significant changes occurred.

Now, perhaps, you can understand why I opted out of the ‘churchianity’ scene and went ‘rogue’ (so to speak🙂), exploring my new-found independence from stultifying influences and destructive mindsets. I needed the freedom to spread my wings and express myself, discover myself, be the person I had not been able to be because of smallminded people trying to stifle me (or lying about me), which I then did through around six years of writing and performing music and poetry. The climax of that period was my 2016 music album, “The Key”, and the title track on that album is about this discovery. Some will say, “It shouldn’t be about your ‘self’, it’s all about Christ”. Let me tell you that you have to look after yourself psychologically and grow psychologically. That is part of the work of being a disciple. It is, in fact, a spiritual work. To that end, the Holy Spirit will work alongside of you and in you. You have been given a life to live, with all the God-given talents and abilities to go with it. Being a disciple of Christ is not about being in a cult where all we do 24/7/365 is ‘obey the pastor’ or ‘submit to the mob’, sing trite choruses the whole time and do absolutely nothing else but think and talk about Jesus. When you are a disciple of His, that discipleship unequivocally colours everything that you do and acts as a backcloth to every moment of your life. But it is not a fanatical obsession. That would be counterproductive, even idolatrous. You need to grow psychologically and emotionally as well as spiritually. The three are intimately linked. You need to become more aware of what triggers your silly reactions and why, more aware of your comportment, more aware of how you handle your dealings with others, more aware of elements in yourself which either need to change or be discarded, aware of what your God-given talents are and how to develop them. Any genuine pastor, elder, leader, teacher will help you in those discoveries and much more; for there is a major overlap between the psychological, the emotional and the spiritual. But this is not understood by many of those who profess to be ‘Christians’; thus, many churches are either full of those who are duped by hypnotic elements and various forms of mind-control or they behave like heavy-shepherding tin-pot Hitlers, manipulating others and being outright control-freaks.

In purely human terms, for a little while, what I had experienced in the ‘Christian’ scene in the 1990s and early 2000s challenged my faith to the uttermost. But there was a wise purpose behind it all, because — despite personally encountering so much nuttiness and nastiness in that scene — my faith emerged not only intact but stronger than ever, resulting in my 650-page free-to-download autobiographical and expository book, “Narrow Gate ~ Pathway Strait: The Road I Have Chosen”. Anyone wanting to know more about all this can read that. The reason that I have shared all the above with you is to show how God used the kind of lies which the questioner above mentioned in order to hone me even further into what and who I am now. “God works together all things for good to those who love God, to those who are being called according to His purpose” (Letter to the Romans, chapter 8, verse 28).

QUESTION 6: “Dear Alan, I am being greatly blessed and challenged through reading your articles, especially your book on the Book of Revelation. My question for you is this: When Satan first deceived Eve, had he already been cast out of heaven as I had previously understood? I know he communicated with God over Job, and had access to heaven, and from the gospels it would appear that it was at the Ascension of Christ that Satan was cast out of heaven from what I have read in your account of Revelation. Please can you enlighten me, dear brother?”

Thanks for the question, which you have actually answered yourself. 😊 I do not believe that Satan was totally cast out of heaven as a result of the Fall. He was certainly judged then but still retained some access to heaven in his dealings with God. As you rightly point out (and as I have written in all my books and articles), Satan plainly had access to heaven as far as he was concerned with Job (Book of Job, chapters 1 and 2), and one can surely presume with others too. It is in the Book of Revelation that we see in the wake of Christ’s ascension (chapter 12, verse 5) that he is subsequently evicted from all access to heaven. At that time, we see that a massive spiritual war began which was between the unfallen archangel, Michael, and the fallen archangel who we now call Satan (though that was plainly not his original name). I can only conclude that this was because of Christ’s victory and His resultant ascension to heaven, because as a result of that war, we read:

“But the dragon was not strong enough, and no longer was any place found in heaven for him and his angels. And the great dragon was hurled down—that ancient serpent called the devil and Satan, the deceiver of the whole world. He was hurled to the earth, and his angels with him”.

Book of Revelation, chapter 12, verses 8-9

Then, in verse 12, we read “Therefore rejoice, O heavens, and you who dwell in them! But woe to the earth and the sea; with great fury the devil has come down to you, knowing he has only a short time”. The events of the past 2000 years, and however long remains of this age (which is the “short time”), are the result of all that demonic “fury” and why evil is building to a climax in this age.

Satan was cast down to earth, but this was obviously on the level of spirit, as we read that Satan became known as “ruler of the power of the air” (Letter to the Ephesians, chapter 2, verse 2), that air most likely referring to an unseen kind of ‘etheric envelope’ around this earth, corresponding to its atmosphere in an ‘other dimensional’ sense. Jesus referred to this casting to earth on two occasions. First, He said, when the disciples returned having successfully raided Satan’s fiefdom, “I saw Satan fall like lightning” (Gospel of Luke, chapter 10, verse 18). Then, shortly before His crucifixion, He said, “Now is the judgement on this world. Now the ruler of this world will be thrown out” (Gospel of John, chapter 12, verse 31).

So it seems very clear to me that Satan was wholly evicted from having any further access to heaven in the wake of Christ’s victory on the cross and His ratifying ascension to heaven.

QUESTION 7: “Do you hold to ‘once-saved-always-saved’ and pre-tribulation rapture and premillennialism? Just curious…”.

I could write a book about these three elements, as their common manifestations and what is popularly believed about them by the vast number of professing ‘Christians’ bear witness to how messed-up the visible church is today and how easily sensational but erroneous ideas come to be accepted as ‘the norm’. However, as I have already written about them in previous articles and books, there is no need for me to write another one.

In regard to your question, “Do you hold to once saved always saved”, quite simply I believe what Jesus said:

“My sheep listen to My voice; I know them, and they follow Me. I give them eternal life, and they will never perish. No one can snatch them out of My hand. My Father who has given them to Me is greater than all. No one can snatch them out of My Father’s hand. I and the Father are one”.

Gospel of John, chapter 10, verses 27-30

It doesn’t get more authoritative than that. This is the touchstone text definitively proving that once one has undergone the transformative metanoia involved in becoming a disciple of Christ, having become a new creation, nothing and no one can change that. Other words of Jesus say a very similar thing:

“Everyone the Father gives Me will come to Me, and the one who comes to Me I will never drive away. For I have come down from heaven, not to do My own will, but to do the will of Him who sent Me. And this is the will of Him who sent Me, that I shall lose none of those He has given Me, but raise them up at the last day”.

Gospel of John, chapter 6, verses 37-39

You will notice that the pivotal phrase connecting these two texts involves those who “the Father gives” to Christ. Jesus will lose “none of those He has given Me” (see italicised words in the above two texts). This again is where those who deny the Bible’s teaching on Divine election come unstuck. If you are Christ’s, it is because the Father has given you to Him. You have been given to Him — not as a plaything, or as a temporary amusement, a ‘maybe, maybe not’ example of dodgy faith, but as a persevering child of God who is in love with Christ.

Peter reiterated this glorious truth when he wrote:

“Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! By His great mercy He has given us new birth [literally in the Greek: birthed us from above] into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, and into an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, reserved in heaven for you, who through faith are shielded by God’s power for the salvation that is ready to be revealed in the last time”.

First Letter of Peter, chapter 1, verses 3-5

If you are truly a transformed disciple of Christ (and not merely a member of something called “the Christian religion”), you have been rebirthed from above (God’s unique work) into a living hope (not one which you can turn your back on) into an inheritance that is not only “imperishable, undefiled, and unfading” but has already been “reserved in heaven for you”. This is not changeable, and neither would you want it to be. God does not provisionally reserve a place in heaven for His genuine disciples; He confirmedly guarantees it for them.

If your metanoia transformation is genuine and you have become a new creation, the video of your life cannot get rewound to an earlier time. Now, it is at this point that those determined to prove Jesus wrong (and there are many) will do two things: They will quote one or two Scriptures which seem to contradict what Jesus said and/or they will tell you how destructive it is to think like that because you may start thinking to yourself, “Well if I am guaranteed to be saved then I can behave in any manner I want, even badly, and all will be okay”. That is utterly ridiculous! The truth is that no one who is a genuine disciple of Christ could possibly think like that. Only an impostor would think this way or think that it would be possible to think this way. If you have truly become a disciple of Christ, your only thoughts will be about how you can improve, not about how you can now get away with behaving badly!

You see, my friends, God does not want you to be forever looking over your shoulder wondering if you will lose your salvation because of some naughty thing you have done. That is not the mindset of the genuine disciple of Christ! For that makes it all about you, as if your salvation only depends on what you do. It is entirely the other way round. You have been given to Christ as a work which will be continually chastised and honed and chastised and honed and moulded by the indwelling Holy Spirit in your ongoing lifelong process of sanctification. The deed has been done and you will persevere. We are not robots, however, and we must do our part too because, anticipating the glory which has been set before us, we must “be diligent to be found at peace—spotless and blameless in His sight” (Second Letter to Peter, chapter 3, verse 14). Diligence is a natural characteristic of those who are true disciples of Christ.

I have already written about the Bible texts which people mistakenly use to try and show that you can lose your salvation if you are truly saved, in a lengthy passage in my recent article, “Do Not Shrink Back!” You will find it here: https://diakrisis-project.com/2023/02/04/do-not-shrink-back-an-exposition-of-hebrews-chapter-10-verses-19-39/ . The reality is that if someone who seemed to be saved then wholly and unswervingly leaves the faith, this does not prove that one can lose one’s salvation. It simply means that they were never really saved! As John stated in his first letter:

“Children, it is the last hour; and just as you have heard that the antichrist is coming, so now many antichrists have appeared. This is how we know it is the last hour. They went out from us, but they did not belong to us. For if they had belonged to us, they would have remained with us. But their departure made it clear that none of them belonged to us”.

First Letter of John chapter 2, verses 18-19

There is your proof text right there: “For if they had belonged to us, they would have remained with us”. But they didn’t belong to us, so they didn’t remain with us. These were not real disciples of Christ who finally walked away from their discipleship. They were never really saved. Only those who are never really saved can fall away from the pretence of discipleship in which they indulged; whereas those who belong to Christ will remain with Him.

There is a sense in which one can say that to claim that a true disciple of Christ can apostatise borders on a blasphemy against the Spirit, for it is He who sees the Divine work in a person through to its conclusion. The Spirit can never be thwarted. “For we are God’s workmanship, having been created in Christ Jesus for good works which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them” (Letter to the Ephesians, chapter 2, verse 10).

Regarding the “pre-tribulation rapture” which you ask me about, I have already written an article about that (which is extracted from my commentary on the Book of Revelation). The link to my article about the so-called “Rapture” is here: https://diakrisis-project.com/2022/03/09/the-perturbing-pastoral-implications-of-the-rapture/ . That is all I have to say about the subject. Suffice it to say that the whole schtick about the so-called “Rapture” is all wrapped up with the same kind of anti-intellectual, superficial, untaught thinking which gives rise to imagining one can lose one’s salvation as a true disciple of Christ, or which rejects the Bible’s teaching on election. What people call “the Rapture”, as pertaining to the First Letter to the Thessalonians, chapter 4, verse 17, is actually the resurrection of the saints and it occurs not before the time of great tribulation but sometime near the end of it.

Regarding your question about whether or not I hold to “Premillennialism”, I can only say that the way that so many deal with the so-called “Millennium” in chapter 20 of the Book of Revelation is also indicative of extremely superficial and even cavalier Bible hermeneutics. There are so many ridiculous interpretations (and over-literalising) of elements in the Book of Revelation which have mainly come out of the ‘Christian’ scene in the USA and have led to the widespread militant assertion of spurious and outlandish scenarios regarding the Endtimes in particular and the deep things of God in general. When a number such as “a thousand years” is mentioned in a symbol-laden book such as the Book of Revelation and, even more relevant, when it appears in the immediate context of a plainly symbolic “chain”, a plainly symbolic “key”, a plainly symbolic “dragon”, and a plainly symbolic “abyss”, one would have to be lacking in depth and basic brainpower to fail to realise that the “thousand years” is also a highly potent symbol (in fact, symbolic of the Gospel Age, as can easily be demonstrated). But as I have already written at length about this “thousand years” and its meaning in my commentary on the Book of Revelation, I can only recommend that you download it (free of charge) and check out pages 522-566. The link for the book is here: https://diakrisis-project.com/2022/06/10/the-essential-apocalypse-making-sense-of-the-book-of-revelation-is-ready-for-download/ . I hope you find that helpful. This is why my book is subtitled “Making Sense of the Book of Revelation”. It is vital to make sense of it rather than force it to fit into one’s preconceived and programmed notions.

I hope that answers your questions checking out where I stand on certain issues. Am I still in your good books, or am I now persona non grata? 😉

QUESTION 8: “I had not heard of you until recently. Then a friend recommended that I check out your website. There are a lot of articles on interesting subjects, and I am just starting one of your books. But tell me this. I have been deceived by so many teachers who I thought were okay but who I eventually realised were false ones. I am very wary now. So how do I know that I can trust you?”

In short, you don’t. You need to be very discerning when looking at someone’s teaching materials, including mine. To be honest, these days it’s a total minefield. I see so many false teachers who are full of nonsense yet giving it large out there on the internet with loads of undiscerning people saying “Oh wow! Thanks for that. You’re the best!” Frankly, it nauseates me. All I can say to you is that my horror of putting anything false out there has made me hugely apprehensive about the entire role of teaching. As James said: “Not many of you should become teachers, my brothers, because you know that we who teach will be judged more strictly” (Letter of James, chapter 3, verse 1). And having written a commentary on the Book of Revelation, I am always aware of these words:

“I testify to everyone who hears the words of prophecy in this book: If anyone adds to them, God will add to him the plagues described in this book. And if anyone takes away from the words of this book of prophecy, God will take away his share in the tree of life and the holy city, which are described in this book”.

Book of Revelation, chapter 22, verses 18-19

When one has such sacred texts hanging over one’s head, one goes out of one’s way and goes the second mile to ensure that all is watertight, to the best of one’s ability. But an interesting thing is that those false teachers which you speak of gave you a check in your spirit at some point that they were false. You saw through them sooner or later (which is a great sign). That means that if I am full of nonsense, you will do the same with me and see what I am made of. Excellent! I have always said that if it can be proven that even the tiniest smidgen of what I am writing is off, then I will immediately retract it in horror that I ever wrote it.

For an extended period (roughly late 2010 to mid-2017), after having undergone some kind of ‘spiritual PTSD’ through coming across so many loons and outright evil characters in the ‘Christian’ scene, I went right back to the drawing board of my faith to see what must stand and what must go. During that hiatus, I did a huge amount of contemplation and exploration of what I needed in order to find myself again as a simple disciple of Christ, after having previously been among a certain wing of the ‘evangelical’ milieu, which was such a mixed bag and very conformist in an unhealthy manner. It is so easy to turn religious things into a kind of cult. Let me put it this way: I have seen through too much bullshit to want to propagate any bullshit myself. I have a horror of misleading anyone. It is only after much wrestling and inner questioning that I dare to make my writings public.

So how do you know if you can trust me? Just keep reading without committing yourself to anything. I don’t run a cult. You don’t have to join anything. Just ask yourself plainly, “Does this seem good and right?”, and keep asking it. Never take off your “testing the spirits” glasses. If I know that you are doing that, then it will make me happy.

QUESTION 9 (four-in-one!): “Thank you for the opportunity to ask four important questions. 1) Do you think that Artificial Intelligence is sentient via demonic power? 2) How did the fallen human nature come about? 3) Was the corruption of our genetics BEFORE the fall? 4) How did the fallen angels and hybrids return after the flood”.

Thanks so much for these four questions in one. I will take them separately below:

1) “Do you think that Artificial Intelligence (AI) is sentient via demonic power?”

It depends which AI you are referring to. Not all AI is bad. It is the way that it is used or implemented which can be bad. But it can also be harnessed to be a force for good. For example, AI can be used to explore the bottom of the ocean or to do things which are dangerous for humans (e.g. bomb disposal), or perform repetitive tasks which are extremely boring for humans (e.g. car manufacture). Like so many scientific, medical, or technological discoveries, AI can be used for good or for bad. Knowing the depth of evil and ruthlessness of the power-elite in this world, one can almost guarantee that AI will be used in a manner which is antisocial and conducive to catastrophe.

Under those malicious circumstances, the evil in humans is enough to ensure that AI will be used for nefarious purposes. However, the demonic realm is always ready and waiting to exploit and encourage human folly so that it works towards its own ends. In this way, a great many human activities become a playground for fallen angels. As we know that every world development is paving the way for the revealing of the Antichrist (which is the next item on the prophetic agenda), then one can guarantee that AI will be used in some ways toward that goal. Humans and demons working together. Whether or not that working involves a conscious knowledge of the togetherness depends on the spiritual condition of those doing the working. One can only speculate.

2) “How did the fallen human nature come about?”

It was plainly a result of the judgement from God after the first humans turned from Him to the fallen archangel who we call Satan. That judgement involved a fall into corruption on every level. Corruption of the natural world (Book of Genesis, chapter 3, verses 17-19). Corruption in terms of then being subject to death. For banishment from the garden of Eden involved removal from all access to the tree of life (which bestowed eternal life, Book of Genesis, chapter 3, verses 22-24), and therefore humans became subject to death. We see that tree of life as restored in the new heaven and new earth (Book of Revelation, chapter 22, verses 1-2) because all those who will be part of that new creation — those who are the people of God — will have eternal life, as promised by Christ (Gospel of John, chapter 5, verse 24).

Another aspect of the Fall is that God gave them “garments of skin”, literally ‘coated them in skin’ (Book of Genesis, chapter 3, verse 21). There are a number of interpretations of this verse. After many decades of deep thought and contemplation on that verse I have concluded that it refers to having physical bodies which are subject to corruption and death instead of the deathless form which they previously had prior to the Fall, which must have been more spiritual than physical in the way that we now experience it.

There is a huge amount to think about when analysing the third chapter of the Book of Genesis. It is massive. I could write a book about it. And yet, unless one sticks to the rigid interpretations of certain theologians who thought they had it all wrapped up, one can easily find oneself being pronounced as a heretic! Anyway, suffice it to say that although God inflicted judgement on the first humans, they brought it on themselves. The result of that judgement meant that their own nature and the condition of the natural world had been changed immeasurably and we are all the inheritors of their genes. We will all now have to die. But the promises of Christ involve a reversal of the Fall in those who follow Him, who become “a new creation”, though that will not be ratified until after the resurrection into our new deathless spiritual bodies, which must be akin to those originally given to the first humans, though even more ‘perfect’. Human beings will not reach the highest level of perfection until after the resurrection and installation into the new heaven and new earth.

3) “Was the corruption of our genetics BEFORE the fall?”

No. Although the first humans were not created in the highest perfection (in the sense that there was the potential for a fall), they were still created “very good”, and one must assume with unfallen genetics. Plainly the fall of angels took place before the fall of humans. But human nature was clearly untainted before the fallen archangel, Satan, entered the picture.

4) “How did the fallen angels and hybrids return after the flood”.

They did not. The Nephilim (who I assume you mean by “hybrids”) were all wiped out in the flood of Noah’s time. The text in the Book of Genesis states very clearly God saying, “I will wipe from the face of the earth every living thing I have made” (Book of Genesis, chapter 7, verse 4) and the text states that “every living thing on the face of the earth was destroyed—man and livestock, crawling creatures, and birds of the air; they were blotted out from the earth, and only Noah and those with him in the ark remained” (verse 23). So that pretty much closes the case.

We know that the fallen angels who took on human form and made the human women pregnant, resulting in the gross mutants known as Nephilim (as shown in the Book of Genesis, chapter 6, verses 1-4) were through Divine judgement put into a ’spiritual prison’ with no more access to humans: “The angels who did not stay within their own domain but abandoned their proper dwelling—these He has kept in eternal chains under darkness, bound for judgment on that great day” (Jude, verse 6). Peter also concurs with this when he wrote, “God did not spare the angels when they sinned, but cast them deep into Tartarus, placing them in chains of gloomy darkness to be held for judgment” (Second Letter of Peter, chapter 2, verse 4). Tartarus represents the other-dimensional netherworld where these beings are kept out of the way of human life on earth. Thus, those fallen angels could not have returned to have dealings with humans after the flood.

As to the return of the hybrids which you mention, I presume that you are referring to the event in the Book of Numbers where the Israelite spies who were sent to sus out what was happening in Canaan reported that they had seen the Nephilim. However, if you check the account in the Bible, it actually says that this was a “bad report”, i.e. it was a false report and was therefore untrue, because they were being cowardly and exaggerating the situation in Canaan.:

“So they gave the Israelites a bad report about the land that they had spied out: “The land we explored devours its inhabitants, and all the people we saw there are great in stature. We even saw the Nephilim there—the descendants of Anak that come from the Nephilim!”

Book of Numbers, chapter 13, verses 32-33

Thus, there were no Nephilim after the flood — which was the whole point of the flood in wiping out human evil and mutations, so as to create a fresh start as well as keeping the bloodline pure.

I hope that all the above gives some kind of answer to your questions.

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© 2023, Alan Morrison / The Diakrisis Project. All Rights Reserved. 
 
[The copyright on my works is merely to protect them from any wanton plagiarism which could result in undesirable changes (as has actually happened!). Readers are free to reproduce my work, so long as it is in the same format and with the exact same content and its origin is acknowledged]