#Atonement #Death #Life #John #Skip #Heitzig
Are Satan Worshippers Real?
– Hail oh deathless one. Who calls me from out of the pits? – [Voiceover] You can turn back now or learn the stuff they don’t want you to know. Here are the facts. In the 1980’s and 90’s people across the united states were convinced that satan worshippers worked in secret across the country. Stealing children for dark rights. Sacrificing animals and innocents and practicing sorcery.
In what became known as, “The Satanic Panic.” Numerous people alleged that they had been ritually abused during their childhood. They claimed that hypnosis and regression therapy revealed these long suppressed memories. Yet, when authorities investigated they ultimately found no proof to back up the accusations. Today the deluge of reports is considered part of
A moral panic. Like McCarthyism or witch hunts. Many people wondered if actual theistic satan worshippers existed at all. So, are there any real devil worshippers? Here’s where it gets crazy. Yes, though perhaps not the way you’d assume. Before we find devil worshippers we have to define the devil itself.
That’s tougher than it sounds. Afterall, one religion’s god may often be another group’s satan. Consider the Yazidis ethnic group. Often called devil worshippers by the nearby Muslim majority. The Yazidis worship an angel called, “Melek Taus.” Who in their religion refused God’s command to bow to Adam.
This bears great resemblance to stories of Shatam and Muslim lore. But the Yazidis don’t consider Melek Taus an evil deity. A similar disconnect occurs between gnostics and mainstream Christians. There are generally two broad camps in the world of genuine satan worship. Symbolic and theistic. The symbolic satan worshippers
Believe in philosophical aspects of satan as a concept. Or satan as an ideology. The theistic satan worshippers believe in a supernatural entity that can interact with the mortal world. Of these theistic satanists, many follow a Lucifer erratically different from the common Christian depiction.
Not an evil force, so much as a disruptive innovative one. Are there really any theistic satanists who genuinely believe they worship an inferno evil deity? While the tales of massive satanic conspiracies don’t seem to bear any fruit. There have been isolated cases of violent criminal acts
Carried out by people claiming to worship satan. And not just any ancient past either. In 2005, Louisiana pastor Louis Lamonica turned himself into the Livingston detective, Stan Carpenter. Lamonica listed in detail, ritualized child abuse that he and other members of his congregation participated in for a number of years.
This included things like animal sacrifice, ritual masks, and dedication of a child to satan. In 2011, Moises Maraza Espinoza confessed to killing his mother as part of satanic right. And there are a number of other proving crimes involving the use of satanic symbols and purported rituals. However, these crimes are not all representative
Of the satanic community. The majority of which, is law abiding. Despite these cyclical allegations of widespread, large scale of networks of devil worshippers, there simply hasn’t been any solid universally acknowledged proof. Those who believe in the conspiracies say the powerful groups have too much control to be reported.
And they point to other supposedly buried reports of abuse. Such as the infamous Franklin Case. Instead it seems that the only individuals or groups actually doing all of those sterotypical satanic things from Hollywood horror films are isolated and quite possibly, insane. Unless of course, there’s something more to the story.
Something they don’t want you to know. – So here comes satanism. Most of us would like to write off as harmless antics by some lunatic fringe. A few years ago maybe, but not now. We have seen that satanism can be linked to child abuse and murder. It has lead seemingly normal teenagers into monstrous behavior. They preach mysticism.
Other people, however, practice evil. And that is why we brought you this report tonight.
#Satan #Worshippers #Real
Understanding the Day of Atonement or Yom Kippur
The Day of Atonement, or Yom Kippur, is the most holy and solemn day of the Jewish calendar. It is the only day when the high priest could enter the Holy of Holies, the most sacred place within the Tabernacle and ancient temples.
It was the only day when the high priest reconciled Israel with God and symbolically brought them back into the presence of the Lord. No other day, and no other ancient ritual comes closer to the full meaning and purpose of the atonement of Jesus Christ.
The fall season of festivals begins with Rosh Hashana, the beginning of the Jewish New Year. Rosh Hashana marks the start of a ten-day period of repentance and preparation for the Day of Atonement. During these ten days, Israelites would seek to draw closer to God in preparation for these sacred rituals.
On the Day of Atonement, all of Israel would be forgiven for their sins of the previous year, thus allowing them to be cleansed and prepared for the Feast of Tabernacles or Sukkot to occur five days later. Feast of Tabernacles was the final and most joyous of the three major Jewish feasts of
Passover, Pentecost, and Tabernacles. The Day of Atonement followed a complex, yet beautiful ritual, symbolizing that all of Israel now had been forgiven and was able to re-enter the presence of the Lord through the high priest. The ritual began with the high priest, dressed in his normal colorful golden garments,
Offering the daily morning ritual of sacrifices and burning of incense on the altar of incense. He then would wash his flesh and change into simple white robes. The act of washing and changing clothes would actually occur five separate times throughout the ritual. The wearing of just the white robes could symbolize the Savior
Who leaving His heavenly throne, “laid aside all the glory … [and] put upon Himself the plain robe of humanity … becoming like one of us.” The color of white is also a powerful symbol of purity, representing the absolute purity of the true Great High Priest, even Jesus Christ.
Next, the high priest would bring two goats into the Tabernacle or temple and cast lots for each of them. One lot was for Azazel, or the scapegoat, and the other was for the Lord. A red ribbon was tied around the horns of the scapegoat to distinguish it from the other goat.
The high priest would then take a bullock, or young bull and place his hands on its head, symbolically transferring his own sins and the sins of his fellow priests to the bull. He would then slit the throat of the bull and catch the blood in a dish to be saved for later services.
He then would bring a burning coal from the altar of sacrifice and incense into the Holy of Holies through the veil for the first time. Here dressed in all white, the high priest would burn the incense before the Lord. The room would fill with smoke,
The cloud of smoke often being a symbol of the presence of God. The high priest then would exit the Holy of Holies, wash again, and take the blood of the bull and re-enter the Holy of Holies for a second time.
He would then sprinkle seven times the blood of the bull on the Ark of the Covenant. The shedding of the blood of the young bull represented that the high priest was forgiven and reconciled to enter into the presence of the Lord.
The high priest would then kill the goat that was chosen for the Lord, again saving the blood in a dish. He then would enter the Holy of Holies with this blood for the third and final time. As he did before, he would sprinkle the blood of the goat seven times before the ark.
As the goat was the offering for the people, this act of bringing its blood into the Holy of Holies represented that all of Israel was symbolically able to enter the presence of the Lord, through the high priest and because of the shedding of the blood of the sacrifice.
Just as the high priest could only enter by blood, so too it is only by the shed blood of Jesus Christ that we can enter God’s presence. As the high priest exited the Holy of Holies,
He would then sprinkle the combined blood of the bull and the goat before the veil of the Tabernacle. He would also use the blood to cover the four horns of the altar of incense. The remaining blood would be poured out at the base of the altar of sacrifice in the outer court.
The high priest would then return to the scapegoat and place his hands upon its head symbolically transferring the sins of all the people to the goat. He then would utter the sacred name of the Lord, which was never to be said except on this holy day, “Oh, Jehovah! I intreat Thee!
Your people, the House of Israel, has been iniquitous, sinned, and erred before you. Oh, then Jehovah! Cover over, I intreat Thee, upon their iniquities, their transgressions, and their sins!” The goat was then taken outside of the Tabernacle and led into the wilderness.
The guiltless goat, dependent upon its owner for its care and protection, would become lost and die in the desert. Perhaps no symbol of the Savior is more powerful than the scapegoat. Innocent of any wrongdoing, just like this goat, the Savior has had laid upon Him the sins of the world.
As Isaiah so beautifully stated, “All we like sheep have gone astray; We have turned, every one, to his own way; And the LORD has laid on Him the iniquity of us all.” Modern readers often gloss over the significance of the Day of Atonement as simply an outdated,
Archaic ritual of death and covering of blood. However, as one better understands each of the aspects, it teaches a powerful message of the atonement of Jesus Christ. The word atonement, or kaphar in Hebrew, actually means to cover. Thus, as the high priest literally covers with blood the ark,
The veil, and the altars of the Tabernacle, he symbolically shows that atonement has been made, and that the way is now open to progress back through the Tabernacle because of the shedding of blood. From the scriptures we learn that when the Savior went to pray and suffer in Gethsemane,
He first left eight disciples at the entrance, then took Peter, James, and John further into the garden, and then by Himself, went further in to pray. Though it is impossible to know the exact reason for this three-level progression the
Savior creates within the garden, it has a strong correlation to the three levels of the Tabernacle with the outer courtyard, the holy place, and the holy of holies. It is as if the Savior desired to recreate these three levels, to show that He was officiating
As our Great High Priest and interceding on our behalf. How beautifully the symbolism of the Day of Atonement teaches us that it is only through the shed blood of the Lamb of God, even Jesus Christ, that we can once again enter the presence of the Lord.
It is only because He took upon Himself our sins and iniquities, that we can be forgiven and our burdens made light. Because of Him, we can have our sins covered over, blotted out, or atoned for. The book of Hebrews teaches, “But Christ being come an high priest …
Not with the blood of goats and calves, but with His own blood He entered the Most Holy Place once for all, having obtained eternal redemption.” How wonderful it is that unlike ancient Israel, who only could be forgiven once a year,
We can daily come to the Lord, lay our sins and guilt upon Him, and continually be forgiven and cleansed because of His atonement!
#Understanding #Day #Atonement #Yom #Kippur
How God Deals With Evil Without Destroying Humanity
We all long for the world to be good for people to live in peace act with love and justice but there’s a problem something compels us humans to constantly wreak havoc and destruction instead and we call this evil and from the Bible’s point of view, evil ruins
Things in at least two ways. There’s a direct effect of our evil like when someone steals from another person they’ve created injustice therefore they owe something to make it right but there’s another indirect effect of evil because they’ve also ruined the environment of the relationship creating a lack of
Trust there’s emotional damage it’s like vandalism and they need to make that right too. Now many people believe ‘Hey God is good he should be the one to just get rid of all the evil in the world.’ But let’s be honest I mean the evil that I see everywhere
Out there it’s the same evil that’s inside of me. We have all contributed and we keep doing it. So this kind of puts us in a bind if God’s going to rid the world of evil, he’ll have to get rid of us. And this is what’s so remarkable about the story
Of the Bible. This God is so good that not only is he going to rid the world of evil he’s going to do it without destroying humanity. So how is he going to do that? Well early in the story of the Bible we’re introduced to this practice of animal sacrifice which I
Know seems weird to us but for the Israelites it was a very powerful symbol of God’s justice and of His grace. So remember I’m a contributor to the evil that’s in the world I should be removed. But God is allowing this animal’s life
To be a substitute. It symbolically dying in my place. And the biblical word for this is atonement, which means to cover over someone’s death. But there’s a second part to this ritual remember evil also causes this relational vandalism and in the Bible this
Idea is described as polluting or defiling the land and making it unclean so the priest would symbolically wash away the vandalism by sprinkling the animal’s blood in different parts of the temple. So the animal’s blood is cleaning things? Well, remember this is a symbol and it’s a symbol that we’re not
Used to. The blood represents life and the sprinkling of the blood is this representation of how God is cleaning away these indirect consequences of evil in their community. In the Bible this process is called purification and so the temple in the land now become a clean space where God and His people can
Live together in peace So this ritual makes things right between Israel and God? And more than that! The Israelites experience God’s love and His grace through these symbols and by being forgiven ideally this would compel them to become people of love and grace that’s the ideal but
It wasn’t always happening right so the prophet Isaiah for example he talks a lot about this he opens his book by saying that the continual sacrifices of the Israelites had become meaningless because they were also allowing great evil in their midst. Ignoring the poor and the oppressed even the Israelite
Kings were distorting justice. But Isaiah looked forward to a day when a new king from the line of David would come and deal with evil but in a surprising way the King would become a servant and not just serve but also suffer and die for the
Evil committed by his own people and his life would be offered as a sacrifice this is the promise of Jesus believed he was fulfilling he’s the king of Israel suffering and dying on the cross. In fact, Jesus himself used Isaiah’s words when he said
That he came to serve and give his life as a ransom for many. And that word ransom refers to the sacrifice of atonement and so all over the New Testament we hear about how Jesus’ death was an atoning sacrifice for us. It covered the debt that
Humans owe God for contributing to all of the evil and death in His world but the new testament authors also talk about Jesus death as providing purification and so we hear about Jesus’ blood as a symbol of his life having this ability
To wash away the vandalism that evil has caused in and around us so we can now live at peace with God so that’s the meaning behind Jesus’ death but there’s more to the story. Yeah, the New Testament makes this powerful claim that Jesus’s death was not final he rose from the dead
And so he’s the sacrifice who broke the power of death and evil which means that he lives on to offer his life to anyone who will accept it he is the perfect sacrifice to it which all the previous sacrifices were pointing all along. So because of Jesus
The early Christians stopped participating in the ritual animal sacrifice. But they were given new rituals there are two that Jesus taught his followers to perform the first is called baptism. Just as Jesus died so going into the water becomes this personal connection you now have to his death and
In coming out of the water you so to speak come back to life with Jesus baptism is the sacred ritual that joins your story to Jesus’s death and resurrection the second rituals called the Lord’s Supper which is a reenactment of Jesus’ last meal with his disciples and he use bread
And wine to portray his coming death as a sacrifice and so now followers of Jesus they take the bread and the cup regularly to remember and to participate in the power of Jesus’ death and in his life so these rituals they remind us of
God’s love and encourage us to live a life love and grace but they do more than that they connect us to a new life source the very power that brought Jesus back from the dead is the same power that can deal with the evil in our own
Lives and transform us into people who lead lives of love and peace. Hi this is Tim! And this is Jon! And we believe the Bible is telling one overall story from beginning to end and so we’re making videos about each individual book
Of the Bible its unique design and message and then how it fits into that overall storyline we also make videos we take one biblical theme we trace it from the beginning of Scripture all the way to the end. We are a non-profit and we
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#God #Deals #Evil #Destroying #Humanity