Bible Refresher 52 - Amazing Reality

Someone once calculated up odds of anyone accidentally fulfilling all Messianic prophecies.

The numbers they came up with were roughly the same odds as if someone had:
1. covered the entire state of Texas (for any who don't know, that's a lot of land) evenly with quarters (coins with a diameter about the length from an adult's thumb's end to its first knuckle), several inches deep
2. tossed one quarter into that pile that had a mark on it,
3. asked someone to find the marked quarter on their first try...
4. ... and had them succeed in that effort, when blindfolded.



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I've looked at the posts prior to this one, and find the discussion interesting. My own research on that general subject matter, over the years, has led me to some opinions based on what I have learned.

So, just in case those opinions might help anyone else... here they are.

Note: all following Scripture references come from the NKJV (New King James Version), unless I did a typo on the "version" part in my search at Bible Gateway and accidentally got the KJV (King James Version). If that happened, my apologies.

Additional note: the Bible was designed to teach us about the "God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob." He was not going out of His way to teach us about "other gods," since He wanted us to focus our attention on Him instead of spending our time pursuing counterfeits. Because of this, a shortage of detail about others should not be surprising.

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Regarding pantheons (groups of names / entities that people worship, but that are not the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob), a partial listing of verses containing recurring themes follows:

Exodus 20: 3 You shall have no other gods before Me.

Exodus 23: 13 And in all that I have said to you, be circumspect and make no mention of the name of other gods, nor let it be heard from your mouth.

Deuteronomy 17: 2-5 "... If there is found among you ... a man or a woman ... who has ... served other gods and worshiped them, either the sun or moon or any of the host of heaven... you shall inquire diligently. And if it is indeed true and certain ... then you shall ... [put] to death that man or woman ... " ("Host of Heaven" sometimes refers to stars, and other times to angels... either faithful or fallen)

2 Kings 17: 35 "... You shall not fear other gods, nor bow yourselves to them, nor serve them, nor sacrifice to them"

From the above verses, it's fairly clear that He wasn't kidding when He called Himself "a jealous God" (Exodus 20:5, 34: 14, Deuteronomy 5:9, 6:15, Joshua 24:19, etc)

Jeremiah 10:11 also has something to say... "Thus you shall say to them: 'The gods that have not made the heavens and the earth shall perish from the earth and from under these heavens.'"

There are other passages and verses which state or else suggest that a day will come when God will render judgement against "false gods" along with those who follow them ... the quoted verse is among the strongest statements of that idea.

Anything that God made (which includes everything and everyone), He can destroy if He chooses. This remains true even if He otherwise made it to be "immortal." So the possibility that some, at least, of the false gods might be fallen angels is not necessarily contradictory to Scripture.

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While the Scripture can be interpreted to suggest that there is some substance to false gods (as in some [supernatural?] entities exist that falsely claim godhood), that does not necessarily mean that any of the mythological tales told about the alleged exploits of such entities are truthful.

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If one is put into a position where one finds themselves studying various mythologies around the world, one might discover that certain themes appear in nearly every pantheon.

For example, there is nearly always one that presides over storms. Theme color is red. Always masculine. Generally favors bulls as a symbol or preferred sacrifice, unless there's a regional variation because bulls are scarce. Also into snakes as a symbol. That combination appears consistently in Greek, Egyptian, Mayan, Norse, various parts of Africa, etc.

Another common concept is "passion" ... feminine patron of fertility, who often wants fruits and flowers for offerings, accepts / encourages promiscuity among followers, etc.

The names differ, but if one approaches it as if one were tracking criminals using aliases, one will find a nearly identical "M.O." (modus operendi, or manner of operating) recurring globally.

If pantheon members were strictly inventions from human imagination, such complete consistency in personalities and preferred methods of worship, in places so far apart, would be highly unlikely. However, the theory that the Fallen may be the behind [at least some of] those masks does make a measure of sense.

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Can the Fallen destroy each other? Whether they can or not, a deceiver could easily make such boasts to inflate their reputation among their followers. 

John 8:44 says, in part, "... the devil ... was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaks a lie, he speaks from his own resources, for he is a liar and the father of it."

2 Corinthians 11: 14-15 continues with that idea... "... Satan himself transforms himself into an angel of light. Therefore it is no great thing if his ministers also transform themselves into ministers of righteousness, whose end will be according to their works."

Summarized: don't expect truth from Fallen angels, even about their appearance or identity.

(Yes, there is a plethora of other verses on this theme. I'll let you look up the others. )


Given the trend that "fallen" human beings are constantly refining their "pecking order," I don't think it unlikely that the fallen angels would also be constantly fighting among themselves.

I do think it extremely unlikely that they could successfully destroy each other.

However -- they might sometimes drive off the loser(s) of such a "pecking order" conflict into exile from a particular area, and then claim that their opponent(s) had been destroyed.

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Promiscuity is not unusual among human beings. Sometimes, however, circumstances may make it awkward for a girl or woman to admit who the biological father of her child is.

Example: the claim of how "a bullet passed through a man, collected some of his seed, and then came into the woman's stomach and impregnated her" (conclusively proved impossible by Mythbusters). That excuse was popular near battlefields for centuries.

I would expect that many of the tales of various children being the offspring of one pantheon member or another probably came from women who did not wish to identify their child's biological (human) fathers. I would also imagine that the "dead-beat dad" (man who runs off to dodge responsibility) was not an invention of recent centuries.

Additionally, "your father was a god" might have been something that mothers told their children, because it might have seemed kinder (to their minds) than to admit, "your dad and I had a [one-night] fling and then he hit the road."

The other claims are probably just boasts of people who wanted power. In that day and age, claiming parenthood from a pantheon member gave to ambitious people additional influence over others.

People today often claim to have God's power, when they are instead actually using some variety of legerdemain ("sleight of hand" or "stage magic") trickery.

Ecclesiastes 1:9 says, in part, "... and there is nothing new under the sun."

Humanity really hasn't changed much since written history began (archaeologists figure that was between 8,000 and 10,000 years ago, based on dating techniques used on some of the oldest writings found).

So claiming a close association with a higher power is not unusual, even if that claim is entirely without substance.

I would expect that one of the situations mentioned above would account for every claim of procreation between humans and the supernatural... with the notable exception being Mary, mother of Christ. Jesus did a pretty good job of proving who He was.

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I could go on, though this post has already grown longer than I'd planned.

In short, I think the Scriptural assertion that there are "fables" involved when one looks at the claims of false "gods" is entirely reasonable.

John 14: 6 Jesus said... “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me."

Anything or anyone else will be less true than He is.