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In the aftermath of my program Spiritual Warfare: Angels, Demons, Quantum Physics, and Your Brain, I have received a lot of feedback—some positive, some confused, and some negative.
As I have reflected on the critiques raised by many about the program, I have realized that much of the disagreement stems from the fact that we are not all drawing our understanding from the same database. It is a given that if we are drawing our conclusions from different sources of information containing divergent data, then we will necessarily be unable to come into agreement. Thus, our first priority in addressing these issues is to determine the data set that we find “authoritative,” the standard by which both our own ideas and other sources of information will be tested against.
My position (bias) is that the 66 books of the Bible are our scriptural standard, and whatever conclusions we make must be consistent with them and not contradict them. Further, in a variety of ways, Scripture teaches that God has provided three threads of evidence that are to be harmonized for us to come to accurate understandings. (See my blog The Old Testament, Modern Teaching, and the Integrative Evidence-Based Approach.) These three threads of evidence are:
- the 66 books of Scripture (written revelation)
- God’s designs laws built into the fabric of reality (science and nature)
- and life’s experiences (how things actually work).
Our goal is to find truth in which all three of these facets agree. I demonstrate this in many places, such as my talk entitled The God-Shaped Brain and my book The God-Shaped Brain: How Changing Your View of God Transforms Your Life.
One of the truths of Scripture is the overarching story arc, the promised Messiah of Genesis 3:15. Throughout history, all the way up until Christ’s victory on the cross, Satan and his forces actively warred against God and His plan, attempting to destroy those people who were working with God—the avenue through whom Messiah would come. That war was physical at times, with the various nations attacking Israel and Judah, but more important, it was a spiritual war with constant attacks through not only pagan worship, but also false prophets with false prophecies and false scriptures, such as with Balaam (Numbers 22, 23; 2 Peter 2:15) and the prophets of Baal, but also the false prophets who claimed to be prophets of Yahweh (1 Kings 22:13; Jeremiah 14:14, 23:25–28; Ezekiel 13:3–6; Micah 3:5).
As the false prophets and their false scriptures were accepted and used by God’s people, the errors they taught became filters applied to understanding the Bible, and the truths of the Bible were corrupted by the people who relied on these false Scriptures to explain the Bible.
An example of this error is recorded in the New Testament, when Jesus confronts the Pharisees on their practice of Corban, which was the custom of declaring one’s property dedicated to the temple upon one’s death; that property could then not be used to care for one’s own parents, only themselves. You can find Jesus’ condemnation of this practice in Mark 7:11. But from where did this practice come? From the Mishna (written Jewish oral tradition and rabbinic literature), (Mishna [Ned III. 6; IX] states that anything set apart as a qorbān), a false tradition from false scripture, which was used to misinterpret the Bible and lead people to practices that were contrary to God’s design of love and trust.
Jesus rightly condemns Corban and, in drawing this contrast, affirms that other writings, ideas, and practices are to be judged by the inspired Word of God, not the other way around, which is confirmed in many places in the Bible (e.g., Isaiah 8:20). If we allow other traditional writings, apocryphal, and pseudo-apocryphal books to be used as source material, then we bring errors into our understanding of Scripture. And if any of these other writings were inspired by Satan and his minions, then our understanding of the Bible becomes corrupted, something the Bible warns will happen at this time in human history:
The Spirit clearly says that in later times some will abandon the faith and follow deceiving spirits and things taught by demons (1 Timothy 4:1 NIV84).
Therefore, I recommend to any of those who disagree with what I have presented and want to engage in meaningful study of this vital topic that we determine our conclusions on this subject only by what we can document, demonstrate, and confirm by the 66 books of the Bible, harmonized with science/nature and life experiences.
If someone is concerned that my inclusion of quantum science and brain science is not from Scripture and, therefore, believes it is okay to bring in other non-Scriptural writings, like the pseudo-Apocrypha, I would counter that there are three types of threads of evidence as described above: Scripture (written material), science and nature (God’s creation and the laws upon which life functions and operates), and our personal experiences with God (how things work). The Bible teaches us to integrate the three different types of evidentiary threads as Jesus did with His parables and illustrations. But any non-biblical written material must be tested by the 66 books and not the other way around.
We should reject explanations of science only when they contradict Scripture. We won’t ever have to reject science itself because when it is rightly understood, it always harmonizes with God’s Word. However, we will find many scientific explanations that must be rejected because they contradict the Bible—like the theory of godless evolution, which suggests that science teaches there is no God and that we evolved from lower life forms.
If there is concern that my presentation of the science in some way contradicts Scripture, I eagerly request evidence documenting this because my goal is always to deliver the purest presentation of truth, of reality, possible, and I sincerely want any misunderstanding, error, or false conclusion removed from what I present.
Therefore, I ask those who may disagree with my presentation, and who would like to help me improve my understanding, to use the only dataset that I find authoritative, the 66 books of the Bible, harmonized with science/nature and life experiences. If other writings are used, as I did with Luther in my presentation, those other writings are not used to interpret the Scripture and do not supersede Scripture, but are simply used to document the fact that my conclusions of what the Scripture teaches are not mine alone, just as the Luther quote I used demonstrated.
My goal in all of this is not to tell any other person what to think but, rather, to share the truth and love of God with others for them to think, study, pray, reason, and decide for themselves—for every person to be fully persuaded in their own mind (Romans 14:5). I want to stimulate, motivate, encourage deep personal study that advances God’s kingdom of truth and love. And His kingdom advances “not by might nor by power [Newtonian physics], but by my Spirit [quantum physics],’ says the LORD Almighty” (Zechariah 4:6 NIV84).
It is as we respond to truth and choose the truth that we are changed; the truth sets us free (John 8:32). As we internalize, ingest, take in the truth as Jesus revealed it, that truth becomes embedded into the substructure of our brains and changes the resonate harmonics of our quantum signature, bringing us ever more into harmony with heaven. As we trust God, as we choose to live out His methods and principles, we are further changed, transformed, and solidified through experience into a living union, bond, friendship of faith, trust, and love with our Creator.
I encourage you to think deeply, study personally, and pray faithfully, inviting God’s Spirit to enlighten, empower, and transform you—and whenever you are fully persuaded in your own mind on some truth, choose it, say yes, and truth by truth, choice by choice, you will be transformed, daily growing in your love and trust relationship with God.
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