In 1 Peter 3:19, who are the spirits in prison?

"He also went and made a proclamation to the spirits in prison." -1 Peter 3:19

The “spirits in prison” are mentioned in the context of what Jesus did in time between His death and resurrection. We know four things about the spirits referred to in 1 Peter 3:19. The Spirits are:

•    Incorporeal (without a physical body)

•    imprisoned

•    committed sin before the Flood

•    were visited by Jesus at the place of their captivity to make an announcement to them.

Who exactly these spirits are has been the subject of some speculation through the years. The verse proclaims Christ’s victory over demonic spirits after his death and resurrection.

First, let’s look at the word spirits. It is a translation of the Greek word pneumasin, a form of the word pneuma, which means “air, breath, wind.” The Greek word for spirits is used in the New Testament almost certainly refers to angels (Hebrews 1:14). “Spirits” (pneumata) in the plural almost without exception in the New Testament refers to angels. While the Bible makes it clear that human beings possess a spirit (Hebrews 4:12), the Bible never refers to people as merely “spirit.” In contrast, God the Holy Spirit, angels, and demons are never said to possess spirits; they are spirits. So the usual meaning of the word spirits in the phrase spirits in prison argues for the spirits’ being something other than human beings.

The spirits in prison cannot be the holy angels because they have not sinned and are not imprisoned. And, if the spirits in prison are not the spirits of deceased human beings, that leaves us with one option—the spirits in prison are demons. Now, it is clear that not all the demons are imprisoned. The New Testament gives many examples of demonic activity on earth. So the spirits in prison must be a select group of demons who, unlike the rest of their demonic allies, are held captive.

What might be a reason for some, but not all, of the demons to be imprisoned? Jude 1:6 gives us an important clue. Some fallen angels committed egregious crimes of some kind causing them to be locked away. Jude 1:6 does not provide details, but the demons’ sin was related to how they “did not keep their position but deserted their proper dwelling.”. Revelation 9:1–12, 14–15, and 2 Peter 2:4 also speak of a group of very wicked angels that are currently bound.

The sin the spirits in prison committed could be referenced in Genesis 6:1–4, which records the “sons of God” mating with the “daughters of men” and producing a race of giants, the Nephilim. If the “sons of God” were fallen angels, then the sin of Genesis 6 involved angels leaving the place where they belonged in the act of disobedience before the Flood—and that corresponds to what the apostle mentions in 1 Peter 3:19. It seems likely that the demons who cohabited with human women were imprisoned by God to prevent them from repeating that sin and to discourage other demons from trying it.

Are zombies real? What does the Bible say about zombies?

“12 This will be the plague the Lord strikes all the peoples with, who have warred against Jerusalem: their flesh will rot while they stand on their feet, their eyes will rot in their sockets, and their tongues will rot in their mouths.” – Zachariah 14:12

The popularity of zombie-themed movies, games, and television shows has captured the mind of our culture. Reports of “zombies” in remote Haitian villages flood the internet. What is a zombie? The Encyclopedic Dictionary of Cults, Sects, and World Religions says, a zombie can refer to a snake deity or someone in voodoo circles who as a result of being put under a spell or having taken harmful potions or drugs is thus easily manipulated to perform certain tasks meaninglessly. So a zombie can be:

1. Someone who is demon possessed – an individual doesn’t have control of their own facilities or body.

2. Someone who is under drug or other hallucinogenic influenced- their physical body is being governed by the demonic.

3. A demonic mockery of the resurrection - Someone who is physically dead, but a demon has temporarily reanimated the corpse for the purpose of deception and confusion. This may have been the reason that the devil wanted the body of Moses. (Jude 1:9)

Biblical examples exist of people coming back from the dead. Please note that there is a difference from God reviving someone vs. the resurrection. When the Lord revives someone they will die again to await the resurrection. But in the resurrection, believers will be like Christ being raised from the dead never to die again. Here are some examples of the dead coming back:

· Zach 14:12-13- a prophetic judgment of God that sounds like something from the set of the Walking Dead.

· Ezekiel 37 – The valley of dry bones an army is revived to give Glory to God.

· Matthew 27:52 – a graveyard of tombs emptied out when Jesus died on the Cross.

· Luke 7:11-17 – Jesus revives the widow’s son.

· John 11 –Jesus revives Lazarus; but he later dies.

· Revelation 11:7 – the prophets of God are killed, lay in the streets dead, but God revives them to proclaim his Glory.

In almost all of the cases above, the reviving or resurrection is given in order for God to receive Glory. In Daniel 12:2, the bible says that all who “sleep in the dust of the earth will awake: some to everlasting life, others to shame and everlasting contempt.” Do you open yourself up to be used by the Holy Spirit or other spirits, aka demons? The reason strong alcoholic drinks were called spirits is because they limit a person’s self-control. Believers should avoid any substance that causes us to loss control of ourselves for recreational use.

Should Christians Celebrate Halloween?

As believers, our surrounding culture will present us with holidays, gatherings, and events that don’t have a biblical origin. Halloween falls into this camp, and is perhaps one of the trickiest for believers. Like anything our culture may throw at us, we can either receive, reject, or redeem. Here is how the arguments go for Halloween:

1. Receive Halloween- Colossians 2:16 says, “Therefore, don't let anyone judge you in regard to food and drink or in the matter of a festival or a new moon or a Sabbath day.” Therefore, no one should pass judgment on you for any celebration which a believer participates. Jesus went to parties to win people to himself. Would we criticize Jesus for doing this? Besides, what is the harm in putting on a costume and giving out a big candy bar to your lost neighbors? Why can’t we use this as an opportunity to love our neighbors?

2. Reject Halloween- Are you kidding me? 2 Corinthians 6:14 says, “14 Do not be mismatched with unbelievers. For what partnership is there between righteousness and lawlessness? Or what fellowship does light have with darkness?” Halloween is an unholy day that has pagan roots. The day was believed by the ancients to be a day when the veil between the spirit world and our world was thin. One had to carve gourds and put candles in them to ward off evil spirits. The idea that unless you gave a visitor a gift they would place a curse on your home that day, the origin of “trick or treat.” In Acts 19, when they became believers they burned their witchcraft books. They renounced their old way and so should we.

3. Redeem Halloween- Wait a minute, just because something has an ungodly beginning doesn’t mean it has to be outright rejected by a believer. Do you like VW beetles? Did you know that they were the brainchild of Adolf Hitler? So should we reject all VWs since they were created by someone who was bent on evil and world domination? What about the dates we celebrate Christmas and Easter? Even celebrating one’s birthday has pagan roots. The only two examples in the bible of anyone celebrating their birthday was pharaoh and King Herold. It was believed that the spirit world owed you one on your birthday. In order to claim said wish, one would need to light a candle, make a wish, and blow the candle out. Years ago, the church came up with All Saints Day on November 1st as a way to redeem the holiday. In this day, believers would dress up as saints and church heroes of the past.

Who is right? I know you want me to tell you, but you need to investigate and choose. I have always leaned towards redeeming the holiday for God’s glory. It is a little tougher than some other holidays, but it is the only day that unbelievers will knock on our door.

Should Christians Obey the Government?

“Give back to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s, and to God the things that are God’s.”[1]

The election this year has been interesting, because of how it has affected evangelical Christianity. Different tribes in Christianity have responded to this election in different ways. I would like to take time in this article to remind believers that there are biblical principles for how we are to interact with the government. Here are some biblical principles for how to interact:

1. Be a good citizen living in subject to the governmental authority, even a pagan one (Rom. 13:1-7; 1 Peter 2:13-17). We must responsibly engage the political process. Do not be deceived by talk radio rhetoric, look at the issues and vote according to who will bring our Christian convictions into the public arena (Prov. 14:34).

2. Live internationally like Joseph in Egypt, Daniel in Babylon, and Jesus on earth. Remember as a believer our ultimate allegiance is to Christ and His Kingdom.

3. Obey the state but worship only God. Thank God for all the good He does through the government, praying always for all who are in authority. (1 Tim. 2:1-5)

4. Acknowledge that governmental authority is established by and comes from God! (Mark 12:17; Rom 13:1,4,6)

5. Acknowledge that all government serves in some measure the purposes of promoting good and punishing evil (Rom. 13:3-4). Bad government is almost always better than no government.

6. Pay all taxes levied upon us by our government, recognizing its right to do so. (Mark 12:17; Rom 13:6-7)

7. Engage in “civil disobedience” only when our government prohibits me from doing what the Bible commands, or when it commands me to do what the Bible prohibits.

I know that in this election we have the freedom not to participate, and some of my mentors have made it clear they will be staying home on November 8. My hero Spurgeon has been unfairly used as a defense for staying home when he said, “Of Two Evils, Choose Neither.” We are not voting on a pastor, deacon or Sunday School teacher. We are voting on the Commander and Chief of our nation. I agree it would be ideal to have someone who could meet those qualifications, but we haven’t had that from any party in a long, long, long time.

So I cannot stay home, my conscience will not allow me to do so. I believe that I have a biblical and patriotic obligation to vote. Our freedom to participate in this process came at a high price. Both parties have placed candidates that would not be mine nor many American’s first pick, but God is in control. Believer, we must trust Him with the outcome either way.

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^[1] The Holy Bible: Holman Christian Standard Version. (Nashville: Holman Bible Publishers, 2009), Mk 12:17.

If Seeing is Believing, How Can You Believe in an Invisible God?

“be ready in season and out of season…” -2 Timothy 4:2

With the growing number of nones, no religious affiliation, the existence of God is being questioned heavily today. A believer must be able to demonstrate that believing in God is reasonable, consistent with reason, and is actually more rational than the alternative of believing in his nonexistence. Here are five reasons why it is reasonable to believe in God:

·      Anthropic Arguments: Things about ourselves—conscience, capacity for good and evil, yearning for eternity, religious experiences—are best explained by the existence of God. How does one explain the universal morals and laws found in every culture?

·      Immaterialism Argument: The existence of love, beauty demonstrate that we do not live in a materialistic universe. What value is love and beauty in an evolutionary materialistic universe?

·      Creation and Design Argument: Creation by an Intelligent Designer is more intellectually plausible than creation by random chance. Where did all matter and life come from and why is it here? (Romans 1:20)

·      Probability Argument: Every day we exercise faith, and I think it’s reasonable to have faith in the supernatural. What does it mean to have faith? It means to exercise the tools of faith: reason or science, intuition, and our experiences.

·      Transcendental Argument- Knowledge, logic, and science, etc., are only possible because God’s existence is a precondition for all thinking and knowledge.

Does Acts 16:31 mean that if I am saved my whole family will become saved too?

A Bible passage without its context is a pretext to say anything you want. The Bible is full of many different types of literature. There is poetry, prophecy, narrative, discourse, letters, proverbs, and parables to name a few. Acts 16 is a narrative passage recording an event in the life of Paul and Silas. When you come to a passage, it is either prescriptive or descriptive. Prescriptive texts are instructive, and they are commands either of what to do or not to do. Confusion often sets in when we bring in the idea of modeling or examples. The Bible is filled with people who modeled great things, and we want to emulate them. But the question is how far do we take it? Should we make rash vows like Jephthah in Judges 11:30-32 or sacrifice our children to prove our faith in God like Abraham (Gen. 22)?

I believe that what we have is a descriptive passage which records an amazing event of salvation for the jailer and his household. A descriptive passage is one that is describing what happened, which may not be emulated or encouraged. Acts 20:9-11 records a young man named Eutychus falling to the ground from the third story to his death. Acts 20 records Paul bringing him back to life. This is a fantastic event for bringing life from death, but it is a unique event to the life of Paul. The story of the jailer and his family is the same. It was unique to that setting and time. While we can certainly walk away with the truth that we must preach the gospel to all households, this is not a passage that guarantees salvation to everyone in our family or household. In fact, look at these passages as well:

· Jeremiah 31:29 & Ezekiel 18 both point to the separating of the destiny of parents and children. A godly parent may have an ungodly (unsaved) child; an ungodly parent may have a believing and faithful child. The destiny of fathers and sons is independently determined.

· 1 Corinthians 7:14 – We are told that an unbelieving mate is "sanctified" by the believing mate (7:14), but please note they are still called unbelievers. A believer in the household will bring blessings to the home that all will benefit from, but that does not always mean salvation for everyone.

· Luke 12:53 – Records that Jesus will divide some families.

· Luke 14:26-27 – Perhaps one of the most difficult passages for many believers. The call is to hate our fathers, mothers, wives, children, and siblings. I believe the call is to love Jesus more than our families.

Bottom line, all are individually responsible for our eternal destiny. And we must love Jesus, obey Him and serve Him, above all others, including those closest to us!

Why Don’t We Pass the Plate in the Common Ground Worship Service?

“Each person should do as he has decided in his heart—not reluctantly or out of necessity, for God loves a cheerful giver.”
-2 Corinthians 9:7

Each Sunday morning during the Common Ground Worship service we sing praises to God, pray, read scripture, hear the Word of God preached, and have a response time. But one thing we don’t do is pass an offering plate. Offering boxes have been installed just outside the doors of the Oasis. For some this is hard to imagine a worship service without passing the plate, let me give you four reasons to consider on why we did this:

•    To emphasize giving, not the process. Giving in various cultures differs. In some cultures, church members dance down front and place their offering in a bucket or barrow. In our culture, offerings are most often passed around. I wouldn’t feel comfortable dancing my tithe or offering down the to the front! It is similar to the plate; some feel put on the spot. The desire to empathize giving and not the process by which we give.
•    To allow more options for giving.  The addition of the boxes allows church members to give anytime they are in our building.  The boxes give a much-needed degree of freedom for volunteers, those who have to leave before a service starts, or our guests. Jesus reminds us that the right hand shouldn’t know what the left hand is doing (Matt. 6:3). Some prefer this privacy in giving, and there is nothing wrong with demonstrating humility as we give.
•    To duplicate an Old Testament example. There is nothing new under the sun! 2 Kings 12:9, “Jehoiada the priest took a chest and bored a hole in its lid. He placed it beside the altar, on the right side as one enters the temple of the LORD.”  Notice the box was placed for worshippers to drop their gift in as they entered! We now have the same ability!
•    To simplify. I am a big fan of K.I.S., Keep It Simple! Not only does this take one more item of the lengthy Sunday Morning order of service, but it also frees up manpower!

That all sounds good pastor, but isn’t giving an act of worship? Yes, of course giving is an act of worship with visiting members, feeding the hungry, taking care of widows and orphans. But we don’t do every act of worship when the church gathers together. So these are the reasons why we don’t pass the plate. As a side note, I have heard it said by church critics that church cares too much about money. The boxes instead of passing the plate take away at least one bulletin from our critics. We want to communicate that we care more about them than their money!