Recovering the Supernatural Worldview of The Bible
A crucial starting point for the reconstruction of my faith.
Before we begin, if you want like 100x as much info on this topic as I’ll be able to explain in this article, I highly recommend getting The Unseen Realm. This book has changed how I read the Bible and opened up my eyes to the biblical narrative surrounding the spiritual realm and the role we as Christians play in it. Highly recommend. So there’s that…
If you’d like to purchase it yourself:
It can be a bit dense though, so the author also published a more reader-friendly version that outlines all the same concepts in a more accessible, non-academic way. I have not read this version myself, but I’ve heard great things:
Why Should You Care?
I get it - you thought this newsletter was about deconstruction and asking hard questions, not Harry Potter-esque book promotions…
I’m going to let you in on one of my fundamental reasons for belief.
Nope, it’s not the moral argument or the fine-tuning argument or any of the other fancy apologetical defenses (although they have their place).
It’s much simpler than that…
I believe in ghosts.
But not the cute sheet over the head Halloween ones. I believe in what the Bible would call elohim - beings that exercise some level of free will in the spiritual realm, either alongside or in opposition to the will of the Creator God, Yahweh.
You may ask why I don’t just use the terms “angels and demons”.
Well, what image did you just think of? I’m guessing it was something like this.
Or maybe you consider yourself a serious Bible scholar and cartoons aren’t your preferred imaginative method.
But you’re likely still missing the full picture (at least I was).
I don’t lead with the phrase “angels and demons” because as American Christians, we grew up equating spiritual warfare with Kronk’s decision making process (see the first image), so it’s obvious we bring a lot of incomplete assumptions to the “angel and demon” discussion.
In Hebrew, angel is malakh, which means “messenger”. This is primarily a term used to describe an office, job, or position, not identity.
“Angel" isn’t the heavenly version of our word “human”. It’s not describing the species, type of life, identity, etc…
It’s more akin to the terms mailman, President, data analyst, secretary, etc… these are jobs, positions, and roles.
Do you see how we mess this up in our heads?
The identity describing word is elohim, and within elohim we see many different spiritual beings - angels, archangels, Seraphim, Cherubim, demons, princes, sons of God, and even Yahweh (way more on that in the book).
How could this unseen realm possibly strengthen my faith as much as I claim it does?
Because I truly believe in it. When we believe in something it will affect our reality. But Christians get ready…
The Bible has nothing to do with my belief in it. I believe in this realm on entirely different grounds…
To The Skeptic
Some of you may not care what the Bible says about this spiritual realm. It may just sound like fairy tales from an ancient, very confused people group.
I understand - I really do. You, like me, have something called “naturalistic” tendencies in your worldview. You subconsciously believe that the physical world is the most fundamental version of reality.
Everyone who grew up in America has a bit of this baked into our brain-box, so feel no shame. But I would caution against leaning too heavily on your modern rationale that tries to “naturally” explain everything away.
Why?
Because of the scientific method.
If that sounds counter-intuitive, just stay with me.
Your worldview = what you believe to be true about reality.
When constructing my worldview, I’ve accepted that I can only experience so much for myself, so I’m forced to rely on observing other people’s experiences (whether Christian or not Christian).
The scientific method is just making observations and testing those observations against other observations and a hypothesis - it doesn’t have to involve test tubes and chemical mixtures. An observation can be anything, including someone else’s experience.
If I observe enough people independently testifying to a similar experience, then with a bit of cautious optimism, I allow myself to log it in my mental worldview tracker as a piece of evidence.
Why does this matter?
As mentioned earlier, my primary reason for believing in this spiritual realm is not based on the Bible - as crazy as that sounds coming from a “Bible-believing” Christian.
It’s from the internet.
I spent a month or so devouring testimony after testimony of normal, non-Christian people that decided to get involved in the occult, ouija boards, demonology, witchcraft, etc… and after reading it all, I’d be an absolute fool to deny the reality of its existence.1
But not just from the internet… I’ve also had close friends come face to face with some of these oppressive, spiritual beings. And before you say it was just their mind making stuff up, they were in a group and everyone saw the same thing, multiple times, multiple days in a row.
The spiritual realm exists.
To my thinkers in the room that are one step ahead of me, I do not use this to justify the Christian understanding of the spiritual realm. That would be dishonest logic.
I simply use it to acknowledge the mere existence of a universe that contains more than meets the eye.
Death to Naturalism.
The more I consumed these stories, the more I became convinced of the storytellers’ sincerity. But along with that sincerity came a very real fear and helplessness. These spiritual beings are real, there are rules and hierarchies to this realm, and you do not stand a chance.
Scary stuff… until you grasp the good news of the gospel.
You may already believe in angels and demons and feel like this article is wasting your time. I’d be happy if that was the case, but I’d be willing to bet that what you mean by “believe” is different than what I mean.
When is the last time your belief in the spiritual realm actually changed the way you thought or acted throughout the day?
Allow a moment.
Consider the possibility that what you mean by belief may be different than the truest form of belief.
If your belief is just a mental checkbox, written on paper but burned up by the fire of reality, you do not believe - you think.
But it’s probably not your fault.
This is the part that’s been left out of modern Christian teachings. Our institutions have this uncanny ability to de-spiritualize things because it makes everything a bit easier to control. The only problem is the Bible makes no such effort.
Alas, we can discuss the Bible.
Do Not Be Afraid
Again, the Bible is not my reason for belief. All of the Jews and their neighbors believed in this stuff without the Bible because it was their reality. It’s still like this in many areas of the world.
So if the Bible isn’t my reason, what is the Bible to me?
It’s my response.
In the face of the terrifying reality of disembodied demons and jester spirits and haunted spaces and every true story that makes you want to crap your pants…
The Bible stands with it’s story of hope.
This is the worldview the biblical writers speak through. This was the world Jesus lived in! Read the Gospel of Mark if you don’t believe me.
Salvation and sin and heaven are part of the story, but when we de-spiritualize our world we end up stripping the gospel of its daily relevance. We sit around waiting for heaven and wondering why our Christian life feels dry.
We are called to battle, my friends, but with weapons not made of iron and steel. Our fight is fueled by the Blood of the Lamb and the word of our testimony.
The Evil One has lost his claim.
10 Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of his might. 11 Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the schemes of the devil. 12 For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places. 13 Therefore take up the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand firm.
Ephesians 6:10-13
Additional Thoughts
This article is not meant to scare you as much as it’s meant to wake you up and be a logical chain of reasoning combatting the sneaky naturalism that’s so common in deconstruction spaces.
I write very vividly and emotionally, but if I had another 40 hours I’d write out all of the biblical references and concepts that underpin my passion on this topic. For that, I direct you to the book. It’s an extremely biblical perspective on this topic. It will change the way you read your bible, for the better, guaranteed.
Or the less scholarly version:
Please write back to me via email! I want to hear your thoughts, perspectives, questions, etc… Do you want me to spend more time teaching some of these things? Just hit reply to this and it’ll go straight to me (assuming you got this via email).
One last word of encouragement.
For every online testimony recounting a terrifying encounter with these spiritual entities, there is also a testimony of the authority that Christ's work has secured for us. I’m serious. The authority over the dominion of darkness is not granted you on your own merit or how close you currently “feel” to God. It resides entirely in Christ's work, and it is yours. He invites you into a vibrant, powerful life with him. If this freaks you out, talk to someone at church. If they think you're crazy, text or email me.
334-322-5195 | hudhuf@gmail.com
Love you all,
Hudson
If you go searching for this stuff on the internet, do so with caution - there is a particular allure to sorcery that’s as ancient and deceptive as that first garden lie. “If you do this, you will know this… then you will not need God.” Do not be fooled. It wants your life.